A Shattered Memory
by aslycsi1315
Summary: A raid on an Unsub goes terribly wrong, resulting in the disappearance of the BAU team. Reeling the lost of her teammates, Garcia dedicates herself to finding the Unsub and her team.
1. Chapter 1

"_As long as one keeps searching, the answers come."- Joan Baez_

**July 27, 2011- 12 miles outside of Manchester, New Hampshire**

"Eww, Bill! Don't wipe your hands on the seat!" Detective Jenna Stone complained. Her partner Bill Jobinson snickered and said, "Don't be such a girl."

Both detectives were driving down a long country road on their way back towards Manchester. It was near midnight, only allowing the detectives to use the moon and the headlights of the police cruiser to guide them home.

"Mmhhmm, donuts," Bill joked as he licked jelly off of the collar of his shirt. Jenna rolled her eyes in disgust. "How did you become a detective?"

"Good looks," Bill answered as he leaned forward and turned up the radio dial. A male's large booming voice filled the vehicle.

_And today, the FBI marked the anniversary of the Colemanshire case that resulted in the disappearance of a team of FBI agents. Now presumed dead, the FBI commemorated with speeches from family and friends speaking on behalf of the team. The investigation into the disappearance of these agents went cold 4 months ago when the FBI and DC Metro came up empty on all leads. Now a snippet from the speech given by the son of one of the agents…._

"That's so sad about what happened to them," Jenna muttered sadly. Whether FBI or police, she, like many other law enforcement across the country, took it as loss of one of their own. "It's so weird that they disappeared like that…"

"Yeah, I know," Bill muttered, taking another bite. Jenna glared at him before turning her attention back on the road. In the corner of her eye, she suddenly saw the small abandoned cabin that she and her partner always passed when driving home. However, something was different: the door was open.

Jenna slowed down the cruiser, causing Bill to say, with food in his mouth, " Wha-ya-doin'?"

"I saw something." She turned the Cruiser onto the rocky, small driveway that led to the cabin. It was a National Honor Site, which led it to be being abandoned for the last six years. One night a few years ago, a few teens vandalized it, causing her cooky Chief to require a patrol to stop by once a night.

"Call Chief. See if someone checked the cabin tonight," she directed Bill. Jenna stepped out of the cruiser and drew her gun. She slowly approached the cabin and said, " Manchester Police!"

After hearing no response, Jenna nudged the door open with her foot. She pulled out a flashlight and shone a light into the cabin. The kitchen was nearly empty, only having a countertop and a stove. Next to it was a small stairwell that led to a second level. Jenna stepped into the cabin and shone the light into the far corner of the living room. Her flashlight uncovered what appeared to be a large pile of lumps. Jenna took a step closer and immediately picked up that it was a group of bodies.

Shivering, moaning, and crying bodies.

**Quantico, Virginia-The Next Day-8am**

Behavioral Analysis Unit Chief Erin Strauss cleared her throat before shaking the hands of the B squad, soon to become the new A squad. Their leader, Supervisory Special Agent Cooper Douglas, flashed a toothy grin at Strauss before turning to his team. He observed all four agents and the quiet technical analyst standing quietly in the corner. He had only known her for seven weeks, but he expected more from what he had heard about technical analyst Penelope Garcia. The quiet blonde in a black suit did not match the quirky, stylish, and perky description of Garcia that he heard about.

As the rest of the team congratulated themselves, Strauss approached Garcia and said, "May we talk outside?"

"Yes, ma 'am," Garcia answered quietly, her head down almost the entire time. Strauss opened the office door and beckoned Garcia outside. Once outside, Garcia folded her arm and answered, "I'm alright, ma am."

"I understand. I just wanted to check up on you. I know since your team disappeared a year ago…it's been rough."

"Of course, ma am." Garcia glanced up towards the two empty offices at the end the walkway. "Thank you for keeping the offices empty, ma am."

"Of course- I couldn't fill them that fast. It would be- highly inappropriate."

"Thank you, again. I was- today's been really hard."

"Of course, of course. Jack's speech was beautiful and moving."

Garcia's lip trembled at the memory of the speech. "It-it was beyond beautiful."

"If there is anything you need, you let me know."

"Yes, ma am. And again, thank you." Strauss nodded and walked back into the office, where Garcia could hear the laughter and eager chatting of the B squad. It made her angry; the only reason they were promoted was because her team was missing.

Garcia turned around and found herself standing in front the wall of fallen agents. The brand new bottom row of photos made her heart nearly stop. Photos of Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner, David Rossi, Derek Morgan, Emily Prentiss, Spencer Reid, and Jennifer "JJ" Jareau filled the bottom row of photos; all looking almost just like she had lost saw them.

_Everyone is just giving up!_ Garcia thought as she walked back to her bunker in a daze. She had never given up on finding the team; every chance she had gotten, she had gone over case files and photos over and over again. The information repeated through her head over and over again; a raid on an Unsub's "workspace" had gone terribly wrong. An hour ahead of local police, the team had raided the workplace, ready to take down the Unsub. When local police had arrived, the SUVs were found torn apart, bullet casing were scattered on the ground, and blood had been smeared on the "workspace" walls. Local police had begun searching the nearby forest for the team, but like the unsub, the team had disappeared without a trace.

Garcia sat down at her computer and put her head in her hands. _Where the hell are you guys? _She repositioned herself on her chair and took a calm breath. _You've worked like a profiler for the past year- you know the case, you know the Unsub. You would have made the team proud._

Garcia chuckled, a tear running down her face. _Morgan would have made a joke right now…._

"Stop it!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Stop talking like they are dead!"

"Miss Garcia?" Garcia turned around to see Agent Douglas. He was standing at the door, his foot holding it slightly ajar. "Are you ok?" he asked calmly.

"Yes, sir." It hurt her to call anyone other than Hotch and Rossi "sir." "I'm just frustrated."

"It's been a year- you have every right to be frustrated." He walked up to her and put a gentle hand on her shoulder, "If you want some time off….."

"No, sir. I need to focus on work," Garcia said defiantly, turning back to the computer. Agent Douglas nodded and took a few steps back from Garcia. Suddenly, Strauss opened the door, her face red.

"Agent Douglas, you and your team is needed in Manchester, New Hampshire immediately," she said in one rushed breath. Douglas crossed his arms, "Ok, what's the case?"

"They may have found the A squad."


	2. Chapter 2

_-July 27, 2010: Quantico, Virginia _

"_Eekk," Garcia muttered as she balanced her tablet and mug of coffee in one hand. She had just come off the elevator and was walking back to her bunker after a small 30-minute break. The technical analyst turned the corner to see two FBI agents and Strauss talking to each other while standing in front of her bunker door._

"_Ma 'am?" Garcia called as she briskly walked up to her. Strauss muttered something inaudible to both FBI agents and turned towards Garcia. As both agents walked away, Strauss said, "When was the last time you heard from the team?"_

"_Only a few hours ago. They were about to raid Michael Colemanshire's workplace when I last spoke to them, ma am."_

"_I see…" Strauss trailed off. Even though she was not a profiler, Garcia instantly picked up that something was wrong._

"_Miss Garcia," the Section Chief said, " I received a call from Bristol police that the team was working with around two hours ago. "_

"_What's wrong?"_

"_They arrived to the Colemanshire residence and found the SUVs torn apart and no sign of the team nor Colemanshire. They searched the woods near the home for a few hours and found no trace of them. As of right now, your team is MIA."_

Present Day

"Penelope?"

Garcia glanced from her seat and found Agent Douglas staring at her.

"Umm, uh-yes, sir?"

"Did you hear what I just said?"

"Umm, no sir. I—it was a false alarm?"

"Yes," Agent Douglas stepped aside as Strauss re-entered the bunker. " Manchester police just confirmed it- it was a group of homeless people. The detectives that had found them were terribly mistaken."

Strauss said, " Agent Douglas, would you be able to stand outside for a moment?"

"Of course, ma am." The Unit Chief disappeared out the door, leaving Strauss and Garcia alone.

"What I am about to tell you- don't overreact. Ok?"

Garcia stood up with her hands, trembling. "No, they aren't-they can't be-"

"No, your team hasn't been found yet. However, one of the homeless people that were found in the cabin in Manchester had a few unusual items with her. "

"What did she have?"

"She was wearing a business attire black jacket with a small pool of blood on it- the police found it to be a women's size, and a small gold necklace, also stained with blood. The police ran it through the system and they found the blood to match Jennifer Jareau's."

_Oh my God! JJ?_ " And-how much? Was there anything else?"

"Not enough blood for a severe injury, but it appears to be relatively recent. I am sending Agent Douglas down there to interview them and I was wondering if you would accompany him?"

"Of course I would, ma am. May I ask why?"

"I know that Agent Douglas and Agent Anderson from the C squad have been teaching you how to profile to help you find the team. From what I have heard, you're a pretty fast learner. You know this case better than anyone else and I think that you could be a great asset if your team was anywhere near that cabin. But I need to know that you can be rational and unbiased, regardless of what you find in Manchester."

_Anything to bring my guys home._ "Yes, ma am. I will be clear and focus and-"

"Garcia! I'm sure you will. Because it is also very highly unorthodox and I had to go to the FBI director for this, I am allowing you to act as if you were a probationary agent. If anyone asks, that is what you say you are. I don't want it out to the public that we let a techie out into unknown and possible unsafe territory. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, ma am." Strauss turned back to the door and called, " Agent Douglas!"

He entered quickly and put his hand behind his back.

"You will take Miss Garcia as an aide or if anyone asks, a probationary agent with you, to Manchester. Wheels up in an 1 hour. Good luck." Strauss walked out of the office, which allowed Agent Douglas to say, " Ready?"

"Yes, actually one moment." Garcia briskly walked back to the Wall of Fallen Agents. Excitedly, she whispered at the sight of the 6 photos of her team mates, " I will bring you guys home. I promise."


	3. Chapter 3

**Flight to Manchester, New Hampshire**

"Ok, so where exactly is the cabin?" Garcia asked as she placed a map of Manchester onto the table.  
>Agent Douglas crossed his legs and responded, "In this area here." He leaned forward and marked a small X over the location of the cabin, located next to a large wooded area known as Blackwood Forest.<p>

"That's 67 miles from Colmanshire's home. The CSI guys searched Colmanshire's home and found no trace of anyone there. Could he have moved the team?"  
>"He might have- all of his victims were found no further than 20 miles from his home. However, your team's photos were all over the news and the Internet. It'd be damn near impossible to move, if he kept them alive, 6 FBI agents without anyone noticing."<p>

"Sir, didn't the police check within that 20 mile radius for him or my team?"

"Yeah and found nothing- there was no evidence or trace at all. What I'm not understanding is the idea of him possibly moving them or dumping them outside his comfort zone. Colmanshire was profiled to be precise and arrogant. He was killing young girls without being a suspect for two and a half years.  
>He's arrogant and smart- a chauvinistic alpha male who doesn't think he'll ever get caught- he never kept any of his victims alive and he's too arrogant to travel 47 miles to cover his tracks. Colmanshire is the type to wave it loud and proud that he killed someone, especially six FBI agents. How does clothing and blood of one of the agent's end of up 47 miles outside of that zone a year after the team went missing?"<br>Garcia glanced out the window and let her mind wander back to the day she had first come to Colmanshire's home. 

_Garcia sprinted up to the sight of the SUVs. Crime scene investigators were searching through the second SUV- the seats had been torn out and all the technology that came with FBI issued vehicles had been destroyed. Garcia briskly passed a CSI and approached Strauss, who was staring at the Colmanshire home._

"_Ma am," she whimpered, causing Strauss to look at her. " You shouldn't be here," Strauss answered flatly, turning her attention back to the house._

"_Ma am, they're my team. I can help- what happened?"_

_Strauss sighed and said, " I don't know. All of the belongings of your team members are in that house- wallets, keys, vests, weapons. There's no sign of Colmanshire, but there is a small path of blood on Agent Reid's vest. Besides what I've told you, there's nothing else left to say. It's like they disappeared into thin air."_  
><span><strong>Manchester Police Station- Present Day<strong>

"Hello and thank you both for coming," Chief Briars stated as he extended his hand out to Agent Douglas and Garcia. Douglas smiled and shook the man's hand, "Thank you for calling. Shall we?"

Briars turned around to a small interrogation room, "The woman that was wearing your agent's clothes is in there. She's a little disheveled, but still rational enough to go through an interview. Which one of you is going to talk to her?"

"Garcia will," Douglas said, causing Garcia's heart to nearly stop, "I'll need to take a look at the evidence."

"Um, sir? May I have a word?" Garcia asked, trying to hide her panicked feeling. He nodded and stepped away from Briars. "Sir, I'm not an agent," she whispered, "I can't go in there by myself."

"Yes you can go in there and you will- that's an order. You are here to aid me and this is how you will do it. I don't care if it's breaking protocol, but I want you to do it."

"Sir, I can't-"

"If Agent Hotchner were here, would you be saying the same thing?"

_He got me there _"No sir, I just- I had to give up so much of myself to work on this case- the style, the perky happiness that I used to walk through the door everyday with, and even my dislike for profiling. Sir, I don't think I can do this."

"You can and you will," Douglas repeated, "Go in there and make your team proud." He quickly turned and walked away towards Briars. Garcia let out a hurried breath and slowly walked into the interrogation room.

At a small silver table sat a woman, no older than 25 with messy black hair. Her dark eyes were concentrated on the table when Garcia entered. The woman chuckled and asked, "You're an Agent?"

_For the team…"_Yes, I am…..Probationary Agent Penelope Garcia and I'm here to ask a few questions about the clothes you found in the woods."

The woman rolled her eyes. "I already talked to someone about the clothes. Look Agent, I don't care about what happened to the stupid clothes. They were near some tree in the woods."

"Did they look like they were tossed or thrown?"

"When did you find the clothes?"

"I don't know- I guess two or three days ago."

"Why the hell are you asking me these questions?"

"The jacket and necklace are tied to a case of missing federal agents. I need to know exactly how you found them." _I don't know how these guys do it, _Garcia thought as the woman crossed her legs and rolled her eyes.

"Fine. I found them next to some tree in the middle of the woods. I was freezing so I took them regardless of the blood on them and on the leaves next to him. Even the other clothes-"

"Other clothes?"

"Yeah, there was some nerd sweater, a blazer- you know the ones the really rich guys wear?, a really cute bracelet, and a picture of some boy, and some holster thingy like the ones worn in cowboy movies."

_Oh my God, Oh my God, _Garcia struggled to hold a straight face. "Describe the picture of the boy."

"I don't know- I'm not some cam recorder! I think he was 5, blonde hair maybe?"

Garcia pulled out her wallet and handed the woman a picture of Jack Hotchner. " Like him?"

"Oh my God- exactly like him! How did you know the kid?"

_I've been taking care of him every day for a year._ "Due to evidence in the case. When- um, when did you find this pile of clothes that you chose to omit from your report to the police?"

"Geez, I'm not a bloody saint. I guess like two weeks ago or something."

"Thank you," Garcia stood up and briskly walked to the door. The woman called out, "Can I go?" as Garcia walked out the door. She walked over to the center table and opened her laptop. Douglas noticed her manic expression and walked over. "Garcia?"

"She lied- she and her friends or whatever, found more clothes than just the jacket and JJ's necklace, sir. I know that I'm a little crazy right now, but look." She pointed to her computer screen which showed the team walking out the FBI entrance on the day that they went missing- Reid in a checkered black and white sweater, Rossi in a black blazer, Prentiss, who was toying with the Parisian charm bracelet on her wrist, Morgan, who always carried a gun holster like Hotch, and the Unit Chief, who always carried a picture of his son wherever he went.

"She said that they found the clothes about two days ago in a pile in the woods. We know that the Unsub is smart- he took down a team of FBI agents by himself. He wouldn't drop a pile of clothes in the middle of the forest like that. Also- also, he killed his victims, which were all girls by the way, within 48 hours. I highly doubt he would have just dumped….their clothes now and in an easy to find spot a year later unless they were kept alive. "

"That does make sense- the blood on the jacket is recent- a few weeks old at best. There wasn't enough for a severe injury and if it's recent-"

Garcia smiled weakly, a first for her in months. "They….must have been at that spot within the last few days." Douglas instantly noticed that Garcia's hand was shaking in nervous excitement.

"Garcia, do you think you can handle this?"

"Umm….of course, sir."

"Then what do we do next in an investigation?" Agent Anderson had taught Garcia the art of profiling, but had not covered investigations. He was extreemly surprised when Garcia crept into his office and asked him to teach her the art of investigating a few weeks prior.

"_Sir?" Douglas glanced up from his paperwork, reminding Garcia instantly of Hotch._

"_Yes, how can I help you?"_

"_In regards to the case of my team mates that are missing…..," Garcia swallowed and continued, " After the case went cold, I asked Agent Anderson to…..teach…me..how to profile. I know, I have to be an official agent to actually go out into the field and I like my job, but I thought it would help me on the case-"_

"_The case?" Douglas leaned back in his chair. "You're still looking?"_

"_Every day, sir. I was wondering if you would teach me more into the investigation aspect. I think it would really help me."_

"_Miss Garcia, you do understand that your entire team is probably all dead?"_

_Garcia winced at the question and said, "I will not stop looking for my team until I…..get proof that they are alive…..or really dead."_

_Douglas hesitated before complying, "Ok, but not when there is an active case."_

"_Of course, thank you, sir." Garcia nodded and briskly left the room. _

"I need to go back in there and ask her where exactly she found the clothes and if any of her friends took any of the clothes. We-um, we need to convey the area around where she found the pile. And…."

"Check out the evidence and speak with the police." Garcia bit her lip, "Yeah, that too."

"That's ok, you did well. Head back in there and I'll speak with the police."

"Yes, sir." Garcia grabbed a stack of papers and her laptop and marched back to the interrogation room. Douglas watched her and smiled. _That's the walk of a true agent…._


	4. Chapter 4

Garcia sat down in the chair in the interrogation room across from the woman and asked, "Where exactly did you find the pile?"

"I don't know- somewhere," the woman scoffed.

"Well ,Miss…."

"Billie Harper."

"Well, Miss Harper, would you been willing to do a walkthrough of the forest so the police can get a better idea of where exactly the pile was?"

"I don't know. Will I get paid?"

_God, she's annoying. _"No, but your help would be greatly appreciated by the FBI and Manchester police."

Billie stood up and brushed off her hands. " No money, no help from Billie. Now, since I didn't do anything wrong, I'll be going now." She started towards the interrogation room door before Garcia said, " The boy into the photo is an orphan now."

"Excuse me?" Billie turned in her tracks and stared at Garcia. The technical analyst stood and said, " The reason we are so adamant about the pile is that the little boy lost his mother two years before this and now he's alone. The chance of finding his father is zilch without your help." Garcia pulled out a photo from her wallet of Henry, JJ's son.

"His mother is missing just like the little boy's father. If we can't figure out where to look, we can't find his mother. And-"_Make something up; quick! _"It's not just them; it's also brothers, sisters, and family members that are hoping for answers. Miss Harper, please."

Billie hesitated before replying quietly, " Ok. I'll help."

**Blackwood forest, Manchester, New Hampshire**

"Ok, Jack. I won't forget. Ok, Jack- I love you too," Garcia said before hanging up the phone. She stood next to Douglas, two officers, and Billie in front of the cabin that the group of homeless people were found. Douglas glanced over to a small pathway behind the cabin and directed, " Miss Harper, if you would be so kind…."

Billie nodded and started walking towards the pathway, followed by the two officers. Douglas put a hand in front of Garcia to stop her and said, " Jack? Would that be Jack Hotchner?"

"….Yes," Garcia answered. She slowly walked towards the pathway. " He lost his mom with the Reaper and now his dad's been missing for a year. He lives with his aunt and his uncle that moved here from New York, but I'm still try to fill the gap- he lost two aunts, three uncles, and his father in one day. I promised him that I would bring his aunts, uncles, and his daddy home as soon as I can."

"Penelope, you do know that-"

"They're all probably dead? Yes, I know that…..that my people may be gone, but I have to keep looking. Plus, I can't tell that to Jack and my godson Henry."

Douglas stepped onto the path, keeping an eye on Billie and the two officers. "So you are the boy's surrogate mommy, now?"

"No- I could never replace or want to replace Haley Hotchner or Agent Jareau, but I am going to love them as if they were my own."

Douglas smiled and replied, " You're a good person, Penelope."

"Thank you, sir."

Douglas glanced over to Billie, who was deep into the forest. "Come on," he said, picking up his pace, " don't want to lose her now, do we?"

After twenty five minutes of walking, Billie suddenly stopped and pointed to a large oak tree that overlooked a large ditch. "Here it is, right here." She stepped next to the tree and pointed to a patch of bark near the bottom of the tree. Garcia bent down next to the tree and said, " Sir, I found blood."

Douglas pulled out a pair of gloves from his jacket pocket and slipped them on. He then pointed at the patch of blood. " Look at the pattern, Miss Garcia. Tell me what you see."

"Well, um- with the arterial spread thing that you taught me last week, it doesn't look the way blood should look if someone was stabbed or…..beaten."

"Exactly what I was thinking- I can't really tell if it came from someone coming from the north," he faced north of where they were standing which led deeper into the forest, "or if they came heading towards where we came from."

"Sir," Garcia suddenly exclaimed. She held her palm near where the blood patch, requiring her to kneel down. " This wasn't out of injury." She looked carefully at her hand's position against the tree. " Unless they were speed crawling, I- Henry fingered painted last week and- sir, this was planted."

"What do you mean 'planted'?"

"I think one of my team members left this intentionally." In her mind, Garcia pictured anyone of her team members placing a hand on a wound then pressing their hand against the tree. " I think even with the clothes- all of it was set as a marker like, like Hanzel and Gretal when they left the bread crumbs."

"Isn't that a fairy tale?" Billie butted in. Both officers directed her away from the FBI agent and technical analyst.

"Like you said, sir," Garcia continued, " the way the blood is doesn't give any indication of how it got there. It looks like someone placed their hand there. If the team passed by here, they would have left a mark saying 'hey, we're alive'- hence, the pile of clothes and blood patch."

"Alright, I'll bite," Douglas said. He took a few steps north and said, "Colmanshire's home is 67 miles south of here. That means that if they came here, they would have to have come from where we came from, but we also know that he moved the team to an unknown location which leads us back to having no certain direction of where they could have come from."  
>"Sir, I truly believe that it's a marker and that we need to send out search parties."<br>"No," Douglas barked, walking back towards the cabin.  
>"Sir!"<br>"No, Penelope. I can't- you're team is- the chance of surviving this is zero."  
>"No offense, sir, but I will not accept that as an answer. "<br>"Garcia!"  
>"Sir, there is evidence that states that they were here two days ago. We can't just give up- for JJ to have left a jacket with blood and one of my team mates leaving blood as a marker, that means that they haven't given up yet. They are alive sir, I don't know ...how many are alive, but it's something. It's been a year and to even have this, it's something."<p>

"Going off your theory that they left the clothes and blood patch as a marker, they still could have gone and come from anywhere. If they went west, it's 47 miles before they hit the next patch of civilization, if they went north, it's 141 miles before the next patch of civilization, and let's say we're really lucky and they went east- it's 9 ½ miles before you hit the interstate. "

"It's something!"

"Penelope, we don't know where they came from or even how severely injured they could be. The fact that this could be Colmanshire screwing with us has to be taken in for account as well! The chance of them making it or us finding them if they went west or north is slim to negative nilch."

"What if they went east, sir?"

"What about it?"

"If they went east and they are alive, we can still rescue them."

Douglas glared at her with his hands on his hips. Garcia whispered, "We need to at least try- we can start from the path we took to here and work our way east. We still also need to factor in the possibility that they were found-"

"If they were found, we would have known by now."

"Sir, I've worked at the FBI for nearly seven years now and I've seen unsubs attack normal people and destroy them. A mother five years ago committed suicide because her twelve year old daughter was kidnapped and mutilated beyond recognition- it shattered every beautiful memory she had of her baby girl."

Douglas glanced east into the dark area of the forest. After a minute, he quietly asked, " How strong is your team?"

"They are the strongest people I have ever met in my life."

"Then if they are as good as you say they are…there might actually be hope. Alright, we'll do it."


	5. Chapter 5

Within a few hours, Garcia and Douglas stood in front of a large group of police cadets and officers, all called in to do a 9 miles search for the team. Not only were there cops involved, there was also a helicopter ready for pickup if needed and each member of the search party was given radios and a flare gun in case they needed to alert others of a discovery. The biggest concern was that a light rainfall had hit the area along with the nightfall and temperatures hovering around fifty-five degrees.

"Twenty six cadets and ten officers," Douglas told Garcia. They're all yours for the search."

_Ok-ok. Come on, Penn- you can do this._ She asked nervously," Ok- so where do we start?"  
>Her superior shrugged his shoulder while giving her an encouraging smile. "Hey, your idea- you run it."<br>"Sir, I'm not good at- are you sure you want me to lead the search?"  
>"Penelope, this is your search. You have got us this close to finding the team. You're in charge of the search."<br>He stepped back, leaving her standing in front of thirty six tired, but ready law enforcement officers. She took a step towards the officers and said in an as stable and calm voice as possible, "Ok, we need to work east starting from this point to the interstate. You all need to spread out in a line and search for any signs of my team- use a flare gun when you find something pertinent. Wait for the rest of the squad when you hit the interstate. Do I make myself clear?"

She received a chorus of, "Yes, ma am," and said, "Alright, let's get to it." Once the officers dispensed, Garcia turned to Douglas and asked, "How did I do?"

"You did great; your team would be proud." Douglas took out a flashlight and shone it in front of them, highlighting large trees, a shrub, and a few cadets searching the woods about ten feet away. He started walking forward, leaving Garcia time to whisper quietly as the rain began to pick up, "Please be out here guys; please."

**Interstate 93- 2 miles from Manchester, NH-15 minutes later****  
><strong> A silver Toyota sped down a large stretch of the interstate through the rain that had just hit the area. The driver, Mabel Jones, gripped the steering wheel hard as her husband James watched his wife hit the gas pedal, bringing the vehicle's speed to seventy four mph.

"Babe, slow down," he asked quietly. His irate and pregnant wife barked, "James, we are an hour late to this wedding because you had to watch the end of the stupid game! Do not tell me to slow down!"

She turned her attention back to the road in time to see an injured man emerge from the woods next to the interstate."Whoa- what the?" Mabel exclaimed. She hit the brakes, causing the nearly hydroplaning Toyota to screech to a halt. James immediately jumped out of the car and ran to the man's side. Mabel stayed by the vehicle, worried and cautious of the man.  
>"What's your name?" James asked the man, who appeared to be no older than 30. He was also covered in bruises, blood, and appeared to be delirious. James also picked up that he smelled horrible, as if he had not showered in months.<br>"My name is- name is," the man stammered as he aimlessly pushed James' hand away. He staggered forward and almost tripped over his feet," My people- half mile- my name is, my name is-"  
>While the man continued to stammer, James spotted another individual approaching with a flashlight from the forest." Sir, who else was with you?" James asked the injured man.<p>

The man immediately backed onto the street with a sheer look of terror on his face. His legs gave out causing him to fall into a heap. "No, no- he couldn't have- no," he cried out. "He couldn't have-I was careful- "

"Sir, you need to calm down. My name is James," he could see Mabel dialing 911 from behind the Toyota; "We're going to get you help, but I need to know your name."

"Sp- how did-Spe-Spe-" the man started scooting back, causing James to put a hand on the man's shoulder.

"Sp- is your name Spencer?"

He suddenly collapsed into James' arms, which caused Mabel to squeal out in concern. James lowered him to the ground and placed his jacket over him just as the other individual stepped out of the forest, a Manchester police officer.

"Manchester Police Department, what can- oh my God," the young officer stated. He stopped at the sight at the unconscious man, now shivering under James' jacket. 

"Where did you find him?" the officer asked hurriedly as he fumbled in his bag for his flare gun. Mabel whimpered," We just got here. He-he just stumbled out of the forest! We called 911-"  
>"I need both of you to get him in the vehicle immediately," the officer commanded. He bent down and gave the man a shake. "Agent Reid? Spencer Reid, can you hear me?"<br>"He's nearly cold as ice!"  
>"Ma am, sir- please get him in the car where he can warm up until EMS arrive."<br>James suddenly exclaimed, "Wait, Agent Reid? Isn't he one of those agents that was on TV a few months ago because he went missing-"

The officer turned away from James and shot a bright orange flare into the sky. He then kneeled next to James and directed, "Help me lift him."

Two miles back in the forest, Garcia bent under a drooping tree branch before she suddenly saw the orange flare appear in the sky. Douglas pulled out his radio almost immediately and yelled into it," Good or bad news?"

A crackle in the radio was followed by the officer who had found Reid saying, " I found one of the agents alive! We are at the interstate and EMS has been notified. He said something about his people which I assume is the other agents, sir!"

"Thank you! Keep me updated!" He turned to Garcia and exclaimed, "They found Agent Reid 2 miles ahead of our position." Garcia's shell shocked expression caused him to add," Alive. We need to spread out! Go!" 

Douglas pulled out the radio and commanded to the other officers and cadets, " We have conformation of a live agent! Agent Reid has been found alive." He motioned Garcia towards the interstate and started jogging and calling out the agents' names. " Agent Hotchner! Agent Jareau!" 

"Derek! Dave!" Garcia screamed into the trees. She heard echoes of officers and cadets calling out the rest of the team's name."JJ! Hotch! Emily!" After a minute, something suddenly caught her eye. She stopped in her tracks and nearly had Douglas crash into her.

"Garcia, what is it?" he asked.  
>"I just saw something," Garcia answered , taking a cautious step towards what she saw. A few feet away was what appeared to be a small cave, covered in leaves and moss. <em>I swear I just saw something move<em>. She approached it as quietly as she could, trying to ignoring the crunches her boots made on the leaves. Douglas called again, "Penelope, what is it?"  
>"Shhhhh..." she answered in a hush. She suddenly heard the sound of wheezing and coughing from the cave. <em>There are people in there.<em> 

She kneeled next to hit and began brushing leaves and moss away until she heard, "Nuh, Nuh!" _I know that voice!_

She put up a shaking hand and called out softly, "Dave?" She shone her flashlight and found SSA David Rossi on his back with a hand shading himself from the light._ My God- they are still in the clothes from last year._  
>Garcia peered at the eldest agent and could see a deformity around his jaw; she could only assume that it was dislocated or broken. Rossi's right eye was swollen shut, along with bruises across his face and arms. What was most of concern was his leg; the agent's right leg appeared to have burns from the knee to the ankle. Along with the smell similar to Reid's, Rossi appeared ill and much lighter; Garcia assumed that it was from malnutrition.<p>

"Nuuuuhhh," Rossi moaned again. He tried to scoot back causing Garcia to exclaim," It's me- Penelope Garcia!" He stopped and held out a trembling hand to her, which she took and placed it on her cheek. " It's me! It's Penelope!"

She turned the flashlight from him and saw the rest of her team; SSA Emily Prentiss was cowered behind Rossi and was wheezing, SSA Jennifer "JJ" Jareau was lying unconscious next to a barely conscious and bleeding SSA Derek Morgan, and Unit Chief Aaron "Hotch" Hotchner was shivering, unconscious and lying on his back next to JJ and Morgan. Garcia stood for a minute with her mouth agape, trying to wrap her mind around the situation: her team was alive- after 367 days, all 6 members of her team was alive. All were barely alive, but in her mind she finished part of the goal that consumed her for 367 days- she had found her team. She was so out of it that she didn't hear Douglas call to other officers, "We found the rest of them! Call EMS! We got them!" 

"EMS was alerted and we have blankets on the way," Douglas said as he placed his jacket around the unconscious JJ, which pulled Garcia out of her daze. He then put an arm around Prentiss who was crying out," No, no- don't hurt me…"  
>An older officer ran up to Douglas and handed the agent a blanket, who then placed it over Prentiss. The officer also wrapped the blanket around Rossi and handed a blanket to Garcia. Next to her, a female officer had wrapped a blanket around Morgan.<p>

Garcia turned to Hotch and placed his head in her lap after covering him with the blanket. She rubbed his chest and whispered, " Come on, Aaron." _Now is not the time for formalities: keep him alive!_ He let out a moan while Prentiss let out another cough.

Garcia spent the following five minutes glancing between her injured teammates and the sky; each passing moment without the sound of a helicopter brought her team closer to death.

Once she heard the sound of helicopter blades, Garcia closed her eyes and thought, _we found them...we- please don't die on me, guys_. The wind speed began to pick up as the helicopter hovered over their location. In what seemed like a second, three EMTs appeared next to Garcia, one of them saying, "We can take it from here, ma am."

In a nearly petrified state, she stood up and allowed one of the EMTs to attend to Hotch. Douglas pulled her back and sat her down a few feet away from where EMTs began to work on her injured teammates.

"Penelope?" he called out to her, but she did not respond; Garcia's mind felt like her world was in a stand still. In the corner of her eye, she could see a young EMT begin to do CPR compressions on Morgan as his fellow EMTs set up an Automated External Defribulator. JJ was placed onto a small gurney and was carried over to a spot below the helicopter where she could be airlifted. As Prentiss, Rossi, and Hotch were being tended to, only one statement played over and over in Garcia's mind;

_After all this; after all this time and effort, please don't die on me now, guys_. _Please._


	6. Chapter 6

**St. Francis Medical Center- Manchester, New Hampshire**

Douglas sat down a large gray couch with a huge sigh. In the corner of his eye, he could see two Manchester police officers standing guard at the Intensive Care Unit entrance, keeping watch for any reporters or curious onlookers. The Unit Chief's eyes began to droop; along with Garcia, he had been up for almost 27 hours straight.

Douglas almost drifted to sleep, but stopped at Strauss' voice calling his name. She marched over to him with a shocked and worried expression. "Agent Douglas, how- how are they?"

"Agent Reid, Hotchner, Prentiss, and Morgan are all in surgery for severe injuries ranging from injured spleens to broken ribs to if you can break it, they've broken it- Agent Prentiss coded twice in the helicopter ride over here. Agent Hotchner has a traumatic brain injury; Agent Morgan's lung collapsed right as he got here, Agent Reid has an infection in his liver- pretty much, not so well.

Agent Jareau has an infection that spread through the abdomen and heart- the doctors were able to stop the infection, but now she is currently laying in a medically induced coma. Agent Rossi's burns looked relatively new to the doctors, but caused him to go into shock twenty minutes ago- he is currently unconscious and being monitored for the possibility of crashing like the rest of his teammates."

Strauss sat on the couch and whispered softly, "My God- I didn't think they'd be alive."

"We aren't out of the woods yet- the survival rate for all of them, especially the four in surgery, is hovering around 33%. There is good news-kind of. The injuries for Agent Rossi indicate that they may have actually escaped."

"Do you have-"

"Men out there searching for any sign of Colmanshire? Yes, ma am. We have as many cops from the county as possible searching the woods right now. I have men screening for any reporters, cameras- anything; a mother, who is currently at the police station, leaked the information to the local news ten minutes after we got the team here and now CNN, CBS, and even BBC are now outside wanting to get a piece of this."

"Dear God- I don't know what to say- "

"Also," Douglas added, his tone mirroring his exhaustion, "the blood we had found in the woods was matched to Agent Morgan, which we now know was from a major gash in his leg."

"OK, good job. By the way, where is Miss Garcia? She must be a mess right now."

"She's keeping watch in the waiting room for any news on the four in surgery. She like myself are in shock….they shouldn't be alive, ma am."

"I know, but they are and now we need to focus on catching this son of a bitch." Strauss stood up and brushed down her skirt. "I'm going to go check on Garcia."

Douglas watched Strauss turn towards the wing entrance before asking, "Ma am, If you don't mind me asking…..I thought you disliked the A squad."

Strauss gave him a saddened look. "Let's just say….you don't know how much you care for some people until they're gone."

Surgery Wing

"Where's Daddy?" Jack asked quietly, his feet slowly swinging off the edge of the chair. "I thought the police said that he was dead."

"Well, your dad was never dead, Jack," Garcia answered softly. She sat the little boy in her lap and said, "Remember how I told you that some bad guys took him?"

"Yeah."

"Well, he was rescued, but now they have to fix him up and make him better."

"Well then, why did we have a funeral like we did for my mom?"

_8 Months ago_

_Garcia stared at her reflection in the limo window. The weight loss, fatigue, and sadness had covered her face taking away the once perky Penelope Garcia. Now, she only saw a sad figure looking back, clad in a black jacket and dress. She was scared to go outside-scared to face the reality that awaited her outside the limo._

_Six burials to make. Six lives to say good bye to._

_It was four and a half months after the disappearance of her team; within the last two weeks, the FBI had declared Spencer Reid, Emily Prentiss, Aaron Hotchner, Derek Morgan, Jennifer Jareau, and David Rossi to be presumed dead. The FBI paid for a funeral- one mass funeral- in order to deal with the passing of the "dead" agents. The night before, photos of her team had been posted on the Wall of Fallen Agents, sealing the deal._

_Garcia slowly opened the door and stepped out into the November sunlight. With the crumpled mascara stained paper containing her eulogy in her hand, she slowly walked across the cemetery field where she came across a group of funeral attendees- all having some relation to each member of the team. She passed the six bronze caskets, each draped with an American flag. She stepped onto to a small platform and faced the crowd filled with solemn faces._

_Garcia coughed and began her eulogy, "I grew up with the idea that a team is supposed to be solid, strong, never broken- a family esssentially. I hadn't come across that until I began working at the FBI and came across…..came across my team. My family. Although two of our members had walked away, the void was filled with the arrival of two new members." In the back of the crowd, Jason Gideon and Elle Greenaway glanced towards each other, a stream of guilt running through their souls._

"_We functioned as a family- every time one of us got hurt, we all gathered together and helped each other," Garcia paused to wipe tears from her face, " and functioned as one team-one family. Derek…he always made me laugh and was there to hold my hand in times of trouble. Spencer always was a joy to be around….even with his clueless….um, cluelessness in certain things. Jennifer and Emily were like best friends- sisters that I always knew that I could go to. Dave and Aaron were….although they were authority figures- they were father figures to me….I know the team being presumed dead means that you and I will probably never see them again, but…I have to hope….I have to hope that they'll come home. I have to."_

"Auntie Penelope?"

Garcia snapped out of her daze and looked to Jack. "Sorry, Jack…I just spaced out for a moment. I really don't know why they did it sweetie, but on the good news-"A tall skinny male surgeon in scrubs stepped out of the surgery wing, causing Garcia to stop mid sentence. The surgeon stepped aside, giving room to allow three younger surgeons to push a gurney with a patient out of surgery. Morgan's sisters and mother suddenly shot up out of their seats and sprinted to the tall, skinny surgeon. He put a hand up in front of them and blocked them from coming near the gurney, now being pushed towards the ICU.

"That's my son! That's my son!" Morgan's mother yelled.

As Garcia quietly approached the group, the surgeon stated, "Agent Morgan has cuts, broken ribs, a punctured lung, a broken femur, electric burns on the chest, and broken metatarsals in his left hand which we were all able to deal with. The injuries are severe and extensive, but if he makes it through the night, we should be in the clear."

"Oh God-"Morgan's mother fell to the floor in a heap, in tears. Garcia blinked away tears before muttering, "Excuse me," and briskly walking out the surgery wing. She kept walking until she found herself outside the hospital, being drenched by the now heavy rains.

_He's alive; if everything goes smooth…he's alive! _"Oh God, Oh God!" she suddenly exclaimed. Garcia started crying until she felt as if she had no tears left. _He's home…..We just need to get through the night and everything will be fine with Morgan, it'll…._

"Penelope?" Garcia turned around to see Douglas standing at the hospital entrance door. He took a breath and said, "It's Agent Hotchner."

Garcia felt her entire body begin to tremble. " What- what happened?"


	7. Chapter 7

"Agent Hotchner is out of surgery and is alive," Douglas said with a sigh of relief. Garcia struggled to keep herself from falling in a heap just as Morgan's mother did. She only stared in disbelief at the agent as he stated," Like Agent Morgan; we need to wait until morning to see. They don't know how extensive the injury is, nor will they know until he wakes up. It could be anywhere from as bad as him not waking up to minor brain injuries that can be corrected. It's a wait and see process."  
>Garcia sniffled and thought<em>- so far, so good for surgery-two down, two to go<em>  
>"What about the ones in ICU?" Garcia asked.<br>"Same as they were when we last talked. Agent Jareau's boyfriend had come in with her son. The boy was asking so many questions to his dad about what had happened. He must be so confused...:"

_11 months ago__  
><em>_"Sorry, I didn't know who else to call," Will said as he welcomed Garcia into JJ's and his home. She replied sadly," No problem. I'm his fairy godmother and I'm here to help. Where is he?"__  
><em>_"On the couch," Will said, pointing to Henry, who was sobbing and sucking his thumb. Garcia tiptoed towards him, saying quietly," Hey Henry, I know you're sad again-"__  
><em>_"Where's my mommy?" he wailed, breaking into another crying fit. Garcia lifted him into her arms and gently said," Your mommy is away, Henry. Remember?"__  
><em>_"I want mommy, now!"__  
><em>_"Henry, your mommy and all your aunts and uncles had to go away for a little while- they'll be back soon."__  
><em>_"When they coming back?"__  
><em> 

_"I don't know when, but I promise you this: your mommy misses you very much."__  
><em>_"Why I not go with Mommy?"__  
><em>_Garcia started to walk around the room slowly and rhythmically trying to calm the once again sobbing three year old. "She couldn't take you with her because...she's on a special mission. Your mom is going to get you a star."__  
><em>_"Really?" Henry responded happily then put his thumb back in his mouth.__  
><em>_"Yes, since you are her baby star, she went to go get you your own star. Right now, she's out looking for the star that's just right. Uncle Dave, Uncle Derek, Uncle Spencer, and Uncle Aaron are there to help her carry the star home. Auntie Emily is there to help her choose the right one."__  
><em> 

_"Why you not with them?" Henry had now rested his head on her shoulder.__  
><em>_"I'm here to help keep an eye on you with your daddy until your mommy comes home."__  
><em>_"Ok, I hope it's blue and shiny," Henry said with a yawn, soon drifting off to sleep. Garcia exchanged a nervous glance with Will before thinking- I hope the lie I just told him becomes true.__  
><em>  
><span>Present day<span>  
>Penelope stood in the ICU wing with her arms crossed as she watched JJ's room. The blonde agent was lying nearly perfectly still while wearing a ventilator. In two chairs next to her sat Henry and Will; Henry slept with a teddy bear in his arm while Will was whispering a prayer for JJ.<p>

"Coffee?" she suddenly heard in her ear. Strauss stood next to her, holding out a small cup of coffee to her. Garcia took it and answered, "Thank you, ma am."

Strauss looked to JJ's room and said, "It's going to be a long night."

"Yeah. Reid and Prentiss aren't even out of surgery yet."

"Penelope," Strauss said, causing Garcia to look at her in shock for using her first name, " Why don't you go home and get some rest?"

"I can't, ma am. I can't leave- a part of me worries that…I'm suddenly going to wake up and find that this was all a dream."

"I can tell you that this isn't a dream, Penelope. Your team is home…..we'll know for certain in the morning. Go home, shower, and at least try to rest. I'll call you with updates."

Garcia sent a quick glance over to JJ's room before responding, " Ok. Thank you, ma am."

Within an hour, Garcia was sitting on her bed, still in the clothes she had been wearing all day. She couldn't sleep, yet she felt so tired that she couldn't move. Garcia rubbed her check and let out a loud yawn. _There's no way that I'm going to be able to sleep_. She sighed in annoyance and grabbed her purse and keys to return to the hospital.

"I thought I told you to get some sleep," Douglas said at the sight of Garcia. She plopped down onto the couch and replied, "I tried and failed. Is there any news?"  
>"Both Prentiss and Reid are out of surgery. Just like the others, we have to wait until morning. Penelope, why don't you lie down for just a bit?"<br>"Are you sure, sir- what about you?"  
>"I'll be alright." Garcia nodded and leaned back against the couch. She thought back to the last time she had seen her team and soon drifted off to sleep.<p>

_367 Days Ago_

_"Pretty in pink, speaking," Garcia piped at the sight her team via the webcam. Hotch bent down where he could get a good view of Garcia. "Garcia, I need you to search for men in middle 30s-40s who work in education and also live in Bristol."__  
><em>_Garcia typed away and pulled up a list of 12 names. "I'm going to need more."__  
><em>_Reid added, "All the victims are college age- try employment in universities."__  
><em>_"...yes, I have a Michael Colmanshire. He works at the University of New Hampshire."__  
><em>_"You can take I-93 and do the commute in 90 minutes. It allows him to pass every last one of the victim's homes. Thanks, Penelope. We're going to go pay him a visit." Garcia caught one more glance of her team before the screen went blank._

The next morning, Garcia sat up and yawned at the sound of an infant's crying. Sunlight was shining through the ICU wing's entrance, highlighting the nurses' station, two ICU physicians, and the checkered tile floor. Garcia found Douglas standing near the nurses' station with an anxious look on his face. "Sir, what is it?" she reached a trembling hand and touched his shoulder. His anxious look turned to a tired smile," They all made it through. It's going to be a long recovery process, but they made it through."

"Thank God-" Suddenly, Strauss walked past Garcia and Douglas and picked turned on the waiting room television. The TV suddenly blared, "_A letter was turned into WL-TV Channel 9 news station about twenty minutes ago regarding the kidnapping and safe return of six federal agents. Manchester police are looking into whether it is from the kidnapper or is from a prankster. Now to our field reporter who is standing outside of St. Francis Medical Center….."_

Strauss turned to Garcia and Douglas and said, " It was a photo- appeared to be from a security camera- that showed our six agents incapacitated. On the back of the photo, it said _To my six little piglets, this isn't over yet. I also thank you for reminding me that there is one little technical analyst to steal to complete my collection. "_

Garcia slowly sat down on the couch and let out a gasp, "It's Colmanshire."

"I'll gather my men and evidence and meet in the conference room in an hour," Douglas said, "I'll also have agents and officers to serve as extra security. Penelope, I'll have Agent Anderson and Christiansen from my team stay with you."

Garcia, who had not heard what Douglas had just said, muttered, "He knows about me."

Douglas put a hand on her shoulder. "I know and we'll get him."


	8. Chapter 8

Hospital Conference Room

"Let's run everything from the top," Douglas said, putting a picture of Colmanshire's photo on a whiteboard. "I mean everything- from the case that brought the team to Colmanshire until everything that has been processed as of right now. Manchester police are still collecting evidence from the team's clothes and looking for any trace, so that's being ruled out for right now."

Garcia stood up and faced the room filled with ten federal agents and five police officers. "Ok; on July 25, 2010, we got a case from Bristol police in New Hampshire about a serial killer that was going after young college women. The killings were sporadic and all over the place and they didn't put everything thing together until then. The team flew there and came up with a profile on the 26th. We narrowed everything down to Colmanshire by the 27th, which is when they all went to pay him a visit. The last time that they were heard from was as at 1:15pm that day. 366 days later, they were found 47 miles away from Colmanshire's home, here in Manchester. "

"What was the profile of the Unsub at the time?"An agent asked.

"White male with a connection to education since all of his victim were college age. He's precise and arrogant. His precision included a radius of 20 miles and dump sites in places where police didn't find bodies for months."

"If all of his victims were college age, what would make him escalate to six federal agents, the youngest being in his early thirties?" a police officer asked.

"I initially thought that maybe he freaked out at the sight of six federal agents-"

A tall agent with long curly hair cut her off. "When you panic like that, you usually don't kidnap- you usually kill, mainly shooting your way out of the situation."

"Garcia did come to that while working with Agent Anderson," Douglas stated, " Colmanshire liked to keep souvenirs. Within a few days of the team's disappearance, we came across a box filled with some kind of belonging coming from every one of his victims. There is a possibility that he saw them as the ultimate souvenir. As of right now, he didn't take anything from them-"

"That we know of," Garcia said softly. "We can't know if he…did anything to them until they wake up."

"Was a rape kit done for Prentiss and Jareau?"

"Yes about an hour ago-it was actually done for all six. Also, blood samples were taken from all of them- if we are lucky, we can learn if they were drugged or not." Garcia pulled out a map and used tape to post it on to the wall. She marked where the team had been found and where the pile of clothes had been found as well. "We know that they made it nearly 10 miles, which with an injury could take a few days, but again we have to wait until they wake up to know for sure."

"Which you should be doing," Douglas stated. He gently pushed her towards the door as she protested, "I can help sir! Please don't kick me off the case!"

"I'm not- we'll work on the little stuff and we'll update you the entire way. You, on the other should-need to be there for your family. You've waited for this moment for over a year. Go."

**Four days later**

"Mhmm," Garcia suddenly heard come from the bed across from her. She looked over to see Rossi stir before he weakly opened his eyes. He squinted at the sudden bright lights hanging above him before slowly opening his swollen jaw.

"Eh...day…" She walked over to his side and called softly, "Hey, you."

"Ga…?"

"Yeah, it's me. You're safe- you're in New Hampshire. We found you in the woods."

"Hu…rt."

"I know- you have multiple severe injuries . A lot can happen with how long you've been gone."

"Da…te…..when?"

"It's August 1,2011."

His eyes widened and he gripped the sheets. "Year?"

"It's ok. You'll be ok." She held onto his hand and squeezed it. "It'll be alright." He nodded and glanced down, suddenly scooting away from Garcia. She reached her hand out towards him, which he responded by exclaiming, "That's not right!"

"Sir, what's wrong?" The electrocardiogram connected to Rossi started beeping faster, showing the Agent's rising heart rate. A nurse ran in and calmly said, "Agent Rossi, I know you're confused and scared, but you need to calm down!"

"No, that isn't right! No,no-"

_What is making him freak out like this?_ Garcia picked up that Rossi was struggling with his eyes deadest on Garcia's waist. She looked down and saw what made him panic- the FBI badge attached to her waist.

"Agent Garcia, I need you to leave," the nurse said. However, at the sound of the nurse calling Garcia "Agent", Rossi paused before attempting to pull off wires.

"Go!" the nurse exclaimed. Garcia dashed out of the room and entered the hallway where she slid down next to a wall and put her head in her hands.

_-2 Months Ago_

"_You should become an agent," Agent Anderson said, causing Garcia to let out a giggle. Both were sitting in the FBI bullpen on a late Friday night, doing more research on the Colmanshire case. _

"_Me? An agent? That's ridiculous!"_

"_It isn't! You're good at profiling."_

"_No, I'm a rookie that's hunting day and night for her team. I'm not an agent- I don't do guns or getting shot at or dealing with criminals that give you the creepy-crawlies."_

"_You kind of do on a daily basis. I think that you should at least get certified- we don't want a repeat of what happened when you went with the B squad to New Mexico three weeks ago."_

"_First of all, the UNSUB stalked me, which is why he nearly shot me. Second of all, I would run away from gun fights and…I don't do guns, sweetie. You seriously can see me being an agent?"_

_Anderson started pulling files into a pile, signaling the end of their night. "I guess I do. Goodnight, Penelope."_

_Garcia crossed her legs and said, "I'm not agent material."_

Present Day

Garcia took a breath and stood back up. She heard Strauss approach her and ask, "Garcia, what happened?"

"Rossi freaked out at the sight of the badge you gave me, ma am. He went ballistic."

"Well, it's been a year- he has to adjust. No one else thinks otherwise, I hope?"

"No, ma am. For all anyone else knows, I'm a probationary agent."

"Good. Keep it that way," she turned to walk towards the wing entrance, but quickly added, "I'd be cautious about wearing that badge round them when the rest of your team wakes up. Not only will it allow everyone else to know that you aren't an actual agent if they blow the secret, I also think it would upset the rest of them dearly as well."

"I don't understand."

"The Penelope Garcia that they had left was happy and eccentric. Instead, you now wear regular business attire, you've lost weight, your hair is now short and red , and you're more professional than I'd ever expect to see come from you. You had to change a lot about yourself to bring your guys home, but to them- they will wake up scared and confused. I'm not sure that they'll deal well with all the changes. Just be careful."

As Strauss walked away, Garcia looked into the window of Rossi's room. The sight of her reflection made her think, _she's right- I have changed. But was it for the better?_


	9. Chapter 9

Three Days Later- St Francis Medical Center

"We got all the evidence results and are about to discuss it at the police station," Douglas said after poking his head into the conference room door. He stepped into the room at when he saw Garcia's aimless stare out the rain drenched window.

"Penelope?"

"It's been a week and only Rossi's awake," she said, her voice shaky and quiet. "I haven't brought myself…I can't go in there without worrying about him freaking out again."

"Well, he was in shock. He should be better now."

"I know. I'm just….I'm ready to go over the case." She stood up and took a deep breath.

"Are you sure? You have already done so much. You don't have to do this part with us, Penelope."

"No, sir- I'm alright. I've gotten this far- I can finish. I want to catch this guy."

"Alright, let's head to the station and get to work."

Manchester Police Station- Forensics Lab

"Rape kit was only positive for the girls, but there was something a little odd." The lab technician, who had ran all the evidence found with or on the team, pulled out a stack of papers from under the desk and handed it to Garcia and Douglas.

"They had traces of benzodiazepine in their systems. It's usually used to help with sleep disorder and anxiety. It's also usually prescribed and takes a few days to leave the system, which is why I was able to catch it."

"Were you able to tell how long it had been in their systems?"

"I only found small traces, so I'd estimate about three days before you had found them. I was able to also find that they had been taking it for awhile.""

"So that's how he incapacitated them. This also backs up our theory about them having three days of escape," he turned to Garcia, " We need to run a list on all benzodiazepine users and pharmacies between Bristol and here. If he takes it, maybe we can find the place where he relocated to. We find that, we can use his 20 mile radius comfort zone to narrow down where he may be.."

"Anything else?" Douglas asked as Garcia continued to scan the tox report sheets.

"Yes. We got back trace from under Agent Prentiss' fingernail and found it to be mud, grass, and a sliver of human skin. We ran it and couldn't get any matches. On Agent Reid, we got lucky. He somehow had a leaf in his pocket…I don't know why exactly-"

Garcia smiled. "It's how Agent Reid is." _Thanks Reid. I knew at least one of them would still work it like a case…._

"Anyway, it came back to be a leaf from the flower Stiff Aster. This flower is native to the area, but something else came up to be odd."

"What exactly?"

"The flowering period for the Stiff Aster is August through October. If they escaped recently, I highly doubt they'd be able to get a hand on a full-bloomed Stiff Aster. With that in mind, I ran it again to double check my results and found traces of limestone. Limestone on plants, especially ones that are blooming a couple weeks before their actual blooming season would be used in-"

"Greenhouses," Douglas finished, an excitement lighting up in his eyes.

St. Francis Hospital

Rossi readjusted his body position against the pillows before looking up at a short brunette, whom he assumed to be his physician. He did not want to talk about how he felt or his feelings on the matter; all he wanted to do was to go and be with the rest of the team.

He _had_ to go and find the team.

"Agent Rossi, my name is Eleanor Christian and I'm the physician in charge of you. You have a partial thickness burn on your leg and your jaw is swollen. I advise that you respond with little words as possible until the pain in your jaw lessens. Do you understand this?" 

"Didn't hit...my...head," Rossi grumbled. He put his hand on his burned leg which was loosely covered in bandages. 

"That's good and I assume that you know-" Dr. Christian stopped mid sentence when Rossi stated, "Where's ….team?"

"Agent Rossi, they are in good hands."

Rossi lifted his uninjured foot and muttered, "need …see- them."

"No, Agent Rossi-"

"Need to…need…now-"

"No!" Christian put a hand in front of Rossi, stopping him in his tracks. "I promise you that they are fine. You need to rest." She gently laid him back into the bed. Rossi turned his attention away to the window, his hand nervously tapping his hand against the bed. Christian stepped back and thought, _Something's seriously wrong. Maybe I should call psych…_

ICU entrance- 25 minutes later

"Yes, sir. Another technical analyst is doing a search for greenhouses in the area as we speak," Garcia said as she sprinted into the ICU. She had told Douglas that she wanted to swing by the hospital momentarily to check on her team. After, she planned on doing another walk through of the woods with Douglas and his squad.

"Yes, sir. See you soon." Garcia dropped her phone into her bag after hanging up and turned the corner to enter Morgan's room.

She was so distracted and frazzled that she nearly crashed into the doctor, but fell onto the wall to stop it from happening. She saw Morgan lying nearly still in his bed with tears running down his face. "What...what happened?" 

"Oh- are you family or-"  
>"Oh," Garcia said, pulling the badge out her purse, "I'm with the FBI, but I'm also a close friend. What's wrong?" <p>

"Agent Morgan has a nearly shattered hand and suffered a large amount of blood due to an arterial bleed in the thigh. We have to see how everything goes, but with that form of injury- he may or may not have full mobility in that leg again. The lung collapse wasn't too severe- we have him on a ventilator, which we can take him off of relatively soon. I do believe that he should be ably to recover with his injured lung- he may have to bring an inhaler with him for the first couple of months, but it should be ok. The broken ribs, cuts, burns, and bruises will heal- although not perfect, but they'll heal."

"I do have another concern," she said before Garcia could sprint to Morgan's side. The technical analyst looked worriedly between Morgan and Christian before answering, "What?"

"When Agent Morgan woke, he seemed very restless and seemed to need to see the rest of the team like Agent Rossi. As soon as they all are strong enough, I'd like them to speak with the hospital psychiatrist. I believe it would be routine after a trauma after this."

"Ok….what's the concern?"

"People deal with stress differently- some drink, some cry, some get depressed, and….some times, people latch onto others. If all 6 agents desperately need each other to function, it makes me fearful of how they'll deal with their stress of the kidnapping. "

"Ok, so what I can do to help?"

"Try to make him as comfortable as possible. Excuse me," Christian stepped out of the room, giving Garcia and Morgan private time. She sniffled at the sight of her friend and called out, "Hey, you."

Morgan turned his head slightly and lifted his hand out to her. She took it and continued, "Hey….welcome home. Did anyone tell you how long you were gone for?"

Morgan nodded; another tear fell from his eye.

"Hey, don't worry about what Dr. Christian said. You are my strong, sexy knight that survived what some may call the unsurvivable. You will be sprinting, hunting down unsubs, and scaring me half to death in no time. I promise."

"Bmmmm," Morgan lifted his hand from hers and slowly moved it until a finger touched the badge. Garcia swallowed as Morgan gave her curious and confused look. _Crap! I forgot to take it off,_ she thought, _Please don't freak out like Rossi did. _

Morgan stared at the badge for a second before dropping his hand, turning his head away, and slowly drifting off to sleep. Garcia kissed up on the forehead before dashing out the door to head back to the forest.

Blackbeard Forest

"We came up with 6 greenhouses in the area and searched them top to bottom. We found nothing," a Manchester police officer said to Garcia as she stepped out of her car once she arrived at the forest.

_He's at least a foot taller than me and he thinks I'm an agent, _Garcia thought. She pointed to where two crime scene techs were hunched over a small hole thirty meters away. "What's going on?" she asked the officer.

"You didn't hear? They found another body," the officer said, slowly approaching the two crime scene techs. "Body seems to be about a week old and there's something else."

"Wha-" Garcia stepped near the hole and almost immediately felt her breath being taken away. She suddenly wanted to run back to her bunker in Quantico and stay there forever instead of facing this.

But she couldn't. She had to do this for the team.

She took in a breath and kneeled next to the hole. The body was a dark haired male, about 45 years old, about 6' 2"- all characteristics similar to Hotch. Whoever the victim was, he still had an empty glossy stare; his brown eyes just as warm as Hotch's. The victim was dressed in a suit nearly similar to the one that Hotch had been found in and had left the FBI building in a year ago.

"Did you-did you…oh," Garcia cleared her throat and finished, "Did you find anything with..the body?"

"Yeah." One of the crime scene techs reached for a bag as Garcia put on a pair of disposable gloves. The tech handed over a large plastic bag, where Garcia could see a silver DVD and small vial of blood.

_What the hell_? Garcia thought at the sight of the vial. Her eyes traveled over to the DVD where she saw a statement that made her heart nearly stop;

_See the leader fight_

_See the leader fall_

_See the rest of them follow along._

"Colmanshire," she gasped, "He struck again."


	10. Chapter 10

_He's ok, Penelope_

_You know he's alive, Penelope_

_Stop worrying; that wasn't Hotch in the hole; that was someone else_

Garcia sat on the hood of her car, biting her severely chipped nail. The evidence bag that she was given was in her other hand; the DVD felt like Colmanshire had sent her worst nightmare-seeing her family in pain. In front of her, the body was lifted into the coroner's vehicle, ready to be identified and autopsied back in Manchester.

_What do I do? Do I watch it or leave it to someone else...What would the team do?_ She remembered all the times that the team had been in trouble; Reid's kidnapping, Hotch's confrontations with Foyet, Morgan being attacked by Foyet- every time that they had seen the others get hurt, they were able to pull through and still get the job done.

Which is exactly what she needed to do.

She immediately sent a text to Douglas stating, _On way back to station with evidence found on victim. _She slid off the hood of the car and thought, _I need to be brave and get the job done. Regardless of what I learn about what had happened to them. Be brave….._

Manchester Police Department Conference Room

Within 30 minutes, Garcia stood next to Douglas in front of a whiteboard in the conference room.

"Alright, so let's write down everything we know." Douglas picked up a sharpie and wrote on the white board:

_Benzodiazepine- form of incapacitation-escaped on the 25__th__ or 26__th__?_

_Limestone- Greenhouses? 6 nearby checked- none panned out_

_New Victim- appearance similar to Agent Hotchner- had DVD and vial of blood_

_Team started from at least 9 miles east of the interstate; found two miles from interstate- Agent Reid- on interstate_

_Sexual Assault- Prentiss and Jareau_

_Clothes and blood left by team as a sign- found on 27th_

Douglas dropped the sharpie on the table. "What are we missing?"

"Should we look at the profile? See if there's anything missing?"

"Like what?"

"Well, he likes to keep prizes; he did that with his other victims. What did he take from the team besides keeping them hostage for a year?"

"That's…wait a minute..." Douglas pulled out the file on Colmanshire's previous murders. "He never held any of the victims for a very long time. We need to figure out why he jumped from college girls to FBI Agents and why he kept them for so long. We also need to figure out where he is and why he left us another body."

_I know a way that we can check, but I'm not going to like it. _"He's obsessed sir. He found some random guy that looks like Hotch and killed him. Is he screwing with me or screwing with the team?"

"Both." His eyes traveled over to the DVD. "Was it tested for prints?"

"Yes, sir." _Here it comes._

"We need to watch it."

Back at the hospital, Will lifted his feet from off the adjacent chair and placed them quietly down on the floor. Henry was sitting below his feet, coloring pictures of landscapes with green and red crayons. Will stood to grab some food from his bag for Henry, but froze at the sound coming from the bed.

JJ let out a moan and lifted her hand a few inches above the bed. She turned her head away from Will before attempting to open her heavy eyes. Will immediately lifted up his son into his arms and approached the bed.

"Jenn, can you hear me? Jennifer?" Will called. JJ groaned and muttered, "Will?"

"Yeah, it's me. You're home and you're safe!" After opening her eyes, she turned her head weakly and saw Henry in his father's arms. He waved slowly and whispered, "Hi, mommy."

"My….baby boy," she whimpered. Henry laid his head on his father's shoulders. "I missed you, Mommy."

"So…big."

"Teacher at school says I's the tallest four year old she's ever seen!"

"Four?" she whimpered. She looked to her son before starting to cry. Will quickly placed Henry down and placed a hand on JJ's forehead. "Don't cry. Please, don't cry. I know it's a lot."

"When?"

"He turned four a few weeks ago. You've been gone for a long time, Jenn."

"How...long?"

"A year."

JJ began sobbing as she stammered, "A year...haven't…can't be!"

"It's alright, Jenn," Will repeated as she continued to sob, "It's alright.

2 Hours Later- Manchester Police Station

"That's amazing! Thank you, doc," Douglas said into the phone before hanging up. He looked to Garcia, who was sitting in a chair in front of her laptop, the DVD sitting in the open CD drive.

"Agent Hotchner, Agent Reid, Agent Prentiss, and Agent Jareau have all woken up within the last few hours," he told her softly. Garcia did not show response so he continued, "It's like they coordinated them all waking up at the same…time. That's an amazing team of yours….."he trailed off. He touched Garcia's shoulder, snapping her out of the daze.

"When I decided that I would keep looking for them," she replied, her eyes locked onto the computer screen, "I thought it'd be the hardest thing I'd ever try to do in my life. I just realized that the waiting and hoping to see if they were ok…..was the easy part."

Douglas reached over her and pushed the CD drive closed. He clicked the play down and stepped back while the DVD loaded onto the screen.

As soon as the DVD started to play, Garcia wished that it hadn't….

_The screen opened in a dark room; the same dark room that had appeared in the photo that had been delivered to the local news station. The cameraman appeared to standing in a hallway. The camera suddenly turned to the left, showing a hooded figure dragging a blindfolded Reid into a room next door. The youngest agent was begging, "Don't-don't! NO, DON'T!"_

_His hostage turned around and delivered a shock to the agent's abdomen with what appeared to be a tazer or a shock prod. Reid let out a piercing scream and the cameraman turned the view back to the room._

_Taking a few steps forward, the camera view focused on Hotch, who was shirtless and on his knees splitting up blood. A man was standing behind him with a whip in his hand and was masked like the other man working on Reid. The cameraman focused on Hotch's bloodied face and sneered, "Come on, Aaron. Scream for me!"_

_The Unit Chief focused on a spot on the floor in response before another 'Crack' of the whip echoed through the room. The camera view allowed the viewer to see Hotch wince, a single tear running down his face. The man with whip chuckled, "The rest of the G-man squad all fell apart when we took you away, Aaron. Now follow suit!"_

_With a final 'crack', Hotch let out a whimper and collapsed onto the ground. _

The screen faded to black; Douglas let out a sigh of relief at its finish and nervously watched the technical analyst. He'd learned of her always having some form of positivity, something that this case had drained from her. She sat in front of him with her face almost pale white.

"Penelope?" he called.

"They- Colmanshire had-has partners," she blinked nervously as if she was trying to snap herself back into action, " He used ele-ele-electrocution and whipping to discipline-punish them. He also- that man-monster called Hotch by his first name and he-took them away. I-I don-don't know what he meant by tha-that. We-we need to double check any wounds for evidence, if…oh, god- what's the name of this town again?"

"Manchester." _She's crashing….._

"If Manchester police hadn't already checked." Douglas' expression caused Garcia to say, "I'm alright, sir. I can contin-nue. It was just a lot to take in. I promise-I'm ok."

_Alright, I'll let it go…for now, _Douglas thought before continuing, "We need to interview them ASAP, regardless if they are incubated, drugged up or not."

"Sir is that-"

"It's been days- it should be still fresh in their minds. I want you to do it."

"Sir, I can't." Garcia thought, _Ok, so he was right on the first few times, but this time-I really can't now! _ "Sir, they all know I'm not an agent. Plus, what they've gone through and remember this world to be, which includes how I am today, is going to freak them out. Rossi almost went nuts at the sight of the badge! I can't-"

"You will; a Detective and I will be in there, but you'll do the questioning."

_Why does this keep getting harder and harder? _Garcia reluctantly answered, "Yes, sir."

St. Francis Medical Center- Prentiss' Room

Prentiss laid back in her bed with her gaze locked on Garcia. She was confused and exhausted; the last thing she remembered was covering the hole near Hotch, Morgan, and JJ. Everything hurt- it hurt to breathe or move.

The hardest thing for her to deal with was the news that it had been a year; it felt like she had only been gone for a short time. Things were so different now- the biggest change was Garcia, standing in front of her wearing a business jacket, skirt, kitten heels, a stoic look on her faced- in general: professional. Garcia was supposed to be delightful and happy, not like this…

"I'm Agent Douglass, this is Detective Cava and I'm sure you know Agent Garcia," said the older agent, who stood next to Garcia and a thin, short Manchester detective.

Prentiss hesitated and turned her attention to Garcia. She scanned the technical analyst for a minute before responding quietly, "No."

"Well, I thought you two knew-"

"Get out." Prentiss narrowed her eyes at Garcia and yelled, "You aren't a profiler or an agent!" She began to hysterically scream, "What are you doing? What are you doing?"

Garcia stepped out of the room quickly and sat in a heap in the hallway. She whispered as if she expected the distressed profiler to hear her, "What happened to you, Emily?"

Detective Cava stayed in the room, but Douglas stepped out and asked Garcia, "Penelope, if Agent Prentiss is being uncooperative, what should you do next?"

Garcia sighed. "Try someone else. Reid, JJ, and Rossi are being interviewed by another Manchester Detective so I guess that leaves…Hotch." She stood up and walked into Hotch's room, next door, and found Hotch sitting up in bed, facing one of the doctors.

"Aaron," the doctor was saying, "I'm going to a neurological exam on you. You have a traumatic brain injury, so I just need you to first answer my questions. If you mess up, don't remember, or physically can't say anything, it's alright! Alright, here's my first question: what's your sister in law, son, and brother's names?"

Hotch coughed and focused all his energy on answering the question, "Jess-Je-Jessi-Jessica," he stammered, "Ja…Jack," he swallowed in frustration and finished, "….Sean."

"Excellent! Aaron. Alright, next question: I had told you the date earlier, do you remember what it was?"

"Au-Aug-gust-gust-August two-tho-ou-sand…..two-thousand….and eleven."

"Excellent. This may be hard and I can see that you're getting a little tense. Answer this the best that you can: what are the names of your team members?"

"Rei….ave…..D'rck," he paused as he began to tear up. _Why can't I-what's wrong with me?_

He started up again, this time his voice now shaky, "…..Em'ly…Jay….Penny."

The doctor smiled and jotted down a few notes, "You are doing so well, Aaron. The stammering and stuttering is because of the injury. I have one more question: what's the last thing that you remember?"

Hotch blinked nervously and balled a hand into a weak fist. "No."

"Well, that's alright. Do you-"

"No."

The doctor, now confused, exclaimed, "Excuse me?"

"No…..'member….. kid-kidnapping…rememb'…arson….Sav-van..vanah. "

Sean dropped his head while Jessica gasped in shock.

"Hotch, that was a year ago," Garcia told him._ This isn't good; this isn't good at all-_

"Agent Garcia?" she heard from the doorway. A Manchester officer stepped around Detective Cava and Douglas with a large manila envelope. He also had on disposable gloves immediately giving away that he was holding onto evidence. But that wasn't the envelope that had been found on the body…

"This came into the station forty minutes ago. We ran it for prints; they are trying to figure out a shipping address as well. I…I thought that you should see the contents in it first, since it was addressed to you."

Garcia nearly ripped the envelope out of the officer's hands and turned towards an empty chair near the doorway. She emptied the contents onto the chair and gasped at what she saw. Detective Cava stepped into the hallway in disgust, Sean Hotchner nervously asked, "What is it?", and Hotch's focus was on Garcia as he muttered, "Pen-Pen-Penelope….agent…"

_Be brave for Hotch, be brave for the team, be brave…. _The envelope contained four red painted fingernail- an entire ones that had to have been ripped out and a black and white fuzzy photo that contained a naked Prentiss lying to a naked Hotch, both unconscious and on their backs. Written on the bottom of the photo was;

_She loves him, she loves him not_

_She cried out in pain, every time for Hotch_


	11. Chapter 11

**Author's note: There was a mistake found in earlier chapters- the name of the forest where the team was found, the pile of clothes, and the other body that resembles Hotch is found is named Blackwood Forest. Sorry!**

_When she cried out for Hotch? What does that mean? _Garcia thought as she placed the note back onto the chair. Sean Hotchner's repeated question of, "What is it?" and the doctor yelling about police business needing to be done outside only sounded like white noise to Garcia; her mind kept running through the last line and the fact that fingernails from her friend were sitting in her palm. _What the hell did Colmanshire do to them?_

"Out! All of you out now!" the doctor suddenly yelled, snapping Garcia back to reality. Douglas took the note and nails out of her hand and placed it with the photo in the manila envelope. Detective Cava spotted the doctor's irate look and nudged Douglas and Garcia out the door.

Douglas handed the bag to Detective Cava and directed, " I want trace evidence on this and see if you can do a handwriting comparison of the note from the local police station, the note found on the body from earlier, and this one. You call me as soon as you find any information, including any information on the body. Alright?"

He turned to Garcia. "Penelope, go home. This is starting to get creepy and-I need you to go home and get some rest. There's going to be an officer in your apartment with that bastard running around. Go-now."

An hour later, Garcia pulled the covers over her body and hugged the blue and yellow body pillow that Prentiss and JJ had gotten for her two Christmases ago. As she drifted to sleep, her mind replayed a memory from the previous Christmas; three months after the team had disappeared.

"_Auntie Penny, I don't think Daddy's ever coming home," Jack whispered as Garcia wiped the tears from his face. She whispered back, "They'll come home soon, I promise. In the meanwhile, did you do what I asked you and Henry to do?"_

"_Yeah- I don't get why we did it, though." Garcia picked up Henry and pointed to the top of the large Christmas tree that stood in her living room. "Since your mommy, Henry, and your daddy, Jack, along with the rest of your aunts and uncles are away right now, I asked you to draw the stars on the ornaments so they can see what you did for Christmas."_

_Garcia placed the two small star ornaments near the top of the tree. "We'll put it right up there near the top just for them. Ok?"_

"_I miss them so much," Jack said sadly. Henry nodded and laid his head on Garcia's chest. "Me too."_

At the sound of knocking on her room door, Garcia shot up out of her bed before she realized that she had been asleep for a few hours. The knocking repeated before Garcia staggered over to the door to open it, revealing Douglas standing with two cups of coffee.

"Sir, it's 4:30am. I thought you wanted me to get some sleep. Did something happen?"

Douglas held out a cup of coffee and nodded. "We have another body."

**Blackwood Forest**

"So the guy that looked like Hotch had been missing for only twelve hours?" Garcia asked as she stepped out of the vehicle once they had arrived back at the forest. Douglas slammed his door shut. "His name was Jeff Dales, an IT technician from Bristol. Jeff Dales left for work yesterday morning, but never made it there. His car was found off the interstate and bam- he's lying dead of a major blunt force trauma to the head. On the bright side, the team and Dales went missing in Bristol so now we know Colmanshire works between Bristol and Manchester."

They passed the hole where Dales had been found in and began trekking up a small hill into the forest. After a few minutes, Garcia could see two techs working in a larger hole. She stepped to the edge of the hole, nearly choking on her coffee at the sight of the body.

Lying in the hole was a man with descriptions very similar to Reid; the victim was lying on his back with his arms crossed. He also had multiple bite marks on his arms and legs like Reid did. Douglas kneeled low enough to use his pen to shimmy the balled up note that was between the man's fingers. He pulled it up and unfolded it, finding writing that stated,  
><em>See the youngest run<em>  
><em>See the youngest hide<em>  
><em>See what happened to the youngest when he left her to die<em>

"He's back to leaving us bodies again- bastard's dropped nearly two in a day. Garcia, check with Manchester police for any missing persons," Douglas stepped around the edges of the hole, " I see a bit of compassion. If he's as sick as he appeared to be, this makes no sense."

"What do you mean, sir?"

"I would expect the body to be tossed in, but neither bodies were. The arms on this body were crossed and the clothes on Dales turned out to be brand new. I'm thinking…..I'm thinking that the team is like an obsession to him now. He's leaving presents for us and taunting the team."

"And me," Garcia stepped back and closed her eyes. Although she had been out in the field more often, dead bodies still made her sick to her stomach, especially one that looked like Reid. She reopened her eyes and muttered, "What do we do?"

Douglas caught her gaze and stated, "I've trained you better than that. What do you think we should do?"

"Talk to them, especially Hotch, Emily, and Reid. They know, well Reid and Emily, should…," the decomposition smell was starting to get to her, " They-those two should be able to give us a little more insight…into what this sick-oh God, excuse me, sir."  
>Garcia stepped away from the hole and bent over, feeling her dinner coming up. <em>Don't do-don't throw up.<em>

"Penelope, I'm going to ask you one more time. Are you sure you can handle this?"

Garcia sniffled and straightened up. "Yeah-yes sir. I'm just not used to bodies…like that."

"Understandable. Why don't you head to the hospital and interview Agent Prentiss and Reid?" He lightly patted her on the back, making Garcia nauseous again.

_Eeehhhh…I don't know how actual cops and agents do this, _she thought before heading towards the car to return to the hospital. 

**St. Francis Medical Center**

Prentiss was lying on her side, facing away from the doorway in her room. _I need to sleep- I'm so tired, but I don't know..if I can …close my eyes…_  
>"Hey, Emily?" Garcia called, appearing at the doorway. Prentiss rolled over and looked at Garcia, half awake. "Yeah?"<p>

"How are you?"

"I'm tired and hurting, Penn."  
>Garcia blinked nervously twice before blurting out, "The UNSUB said that you cried out for Hotch. Is that true?"<p>

_How did she know that? _"Um, actually yes," she said with a sigh, "where he was…..I mean they had taken him away and we all thought…." Prentiss trailed off and closed her eyes. After a minute, she continued, " I had asked and….they showed me a blood soaked shirt and told me that he was dead. I got so upset and then they started whipping me. I just remember mourning for him…crying...and being whipped. JJ was sobbing, Derek- he tried to…and they did things to him and….for a long time, we thought he was dead." _How does she know this?_

Garcia nodded and cautiously approached the bed. Prentiss kept an eye on the badge at Garcia's waist. _She isn't a profiler! How does she-she couldn't have- I'm so tired…._

"Are you ok?

"I'm-I- Penelope, why do you have a badge?" _We were gone for a year…_

Garcia hesitantly pulled the badge off and chuckled when she placed it between her fingers. "I have it so I can help with the investigation. I'm still the same old me."

_No you aren't….something's changed. _"You've changed."

"A year is a long time, sweetie," Garcia sat down at the edge of the bed, far from Prentiss, "You said that they had taken Hotch away?"

"How did you know about that? How did you know about how we reacted?"

"I can't…can't tell you, Emily. I'm sorry."

_You liar- she's hiding something from me. _Prentiss felt her blood begin to boil. "You can't or you won't?"

"Don't-don't get angry with me, please. Can you please answer the question?"

Prentiss crossed her arms angrily, the best that she could with the bandages and wires. "I don't want to talk right now. I'm tired," she snapped.

Garcia bit her lip and stood up. "I'll go then. I'm sorry that I-"

"Please go." As Garcia quietly stepped out of the room, Prentiss scanned her own body, picking up on the large amount of wires, bandages; _I'm not a victim! _She thought. _I don't want anyone to treat me like I'm a victim._

Outside Prentiss' room, Garcia walked in a daze towards Reid's room. Her friend's tone shocked her; it was as if Prentiss was suspicious of her. Garcia ran through the statistics through her head: Rossi had freaked at the first sight of her, Prentiss was paranoid of her, JJ- according to Will- had spent the day crying and refusing to talk to anyone, Hotch was amnesiac and was most likely to internalize it, which would backfire in the end, and Morgan was angry. Livid beyond belief was more like it.

Reid was the only one that she had not been able to spend a lot of time with. She took a second once outside his room to whisper, " Please be ok, Reid," before stepping in to the youngest team member's room.

He was sitting up in bed with a small book in his left hand. He could only hold it a few inches above the bed; he dropped it immediately at the sight of Garcia.  
>"Hey…." He said in a groggy voice.<p>

Garcia put her hands on the bed railing and began nervously tapping her fingers. "How are you?" she asked in a small, mouse like voice.

"Everything hurts, I'm so confused."

"It's alright, sweetie. It's a lot to take in…Reid?"

He blinked in confusion at her nervousness. "Are you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm ok, sweetie…this is going to be a weird question, but were you attacked by a dog?"

_That's really weird. _"Yes, how did you know this?"

"Lucky guess?"

_That's a blatant lie, but she's probably just freaked out right now. _"I tried to escape once and they had sent attack dogs on me. It was just Emily and I and….she told me to run because she couldn't go as fast as I could….They bit me up pretty bad." He turned his wrist, sporting dressings covering up his arm.

"They?"

"The dogs? Yes, I think that they were-"

"No," Garcia's whole body froze, " You said 'they had sent attack dogs'. Reid, do you remember how many guys besides Colmanshire that was there?"

"Three or four- I'm not entirely sure."

_He does have accomplices! _"Ok, sweetie. Thank you. Do you remember what they look like?"

"I guess I could try to draw it out-"

Garcia let out a huge sigh of relief and headed to the door. She thought, _He has accomplices! I have to remember to thank Reid later….._


	12. Chapter 12

**Author's Note: Because I will be leaving the country on Friday and won't have much access to internet, this will be the last posting of this story until around New Year's Day. I hope everyone has a great holiday! Thanks!**

Reid felt his eyes flutter close as the melodic ticking of the clock put him to sleep. Unlike most times in his life, he immediately found himself in a nightmare and automatically knew it.

_He fell forward; all he remembered was tumbling down the stairs and landing against the wall. He soon recognized that he was in Colmanshire's home on the day that they had been kidnapped. His vision became blurry as soon as his head had hit the wall at the bottom of the stairs. At the top of the stairs, he could hear JJ scream and gunshots. _

_Suddenly, Reid heard the shatter of glass and saw his boss landing after being thrown into a mirror. Morgan, Prentiss and Rossi were nowhere to be seen…._

_This was supposed to be an easy raid; they've already taken Hotch, JJ, and me down already…_

"Reid?" Garcia's touch on his shoulder snapped him out of his dream. There was a man with a notepad standing next to her, watching the agent in eager. The man stammered, "It's a pleasure- welcome home, Agent Reid."

"Spence, "Garcia asked, "This is the sketch artist for the Manchester police department. Do you think that you can describe any of the men to him?"

"Yeah, yeah….ummm. I think there were three or four. I'm not really sure. Right before we escaped, Hotch described a guy different than what we had seen."

"What about the men that you know of?"

"White males, thirties to forties, not really sure about hair color or any facial features. Oh, they were about Morgan's height. That's really all I can remember- it was dark almost the entire time and they were wearing hoods."

"No, that's good," Garcia gave the sketch artist a nod to leave, "You did good."

Reid shrugged before whispering, "Thanks. I think I'm going to try and get some more rest."

"Ok." She watched the young agent slide under the covers and thought, _Not that I'm not thankful that he's calm, but I haven't really seen anything from Reid. I hope he's not trying to compartmentalize it.._

She stepped out of the room, lost in thought until she heard commotion coming from Morgan's room. She ran towards the doorway and found Morgan arguing with a male nurse.

Morgan pulled himself up and started inching off the bed. The nurse put his hands up in front of him to block him from getting off the bed. "Agent Morgan, stop!"  
>Morgan said through a grimace, "I'm fine. I need to get better so I can catch the son of a bitch that did this to me!"<p>

"You need to rest first!" Garcia entered the room, exclaiming, "Derek, what are you doing?"

"Need to go catch this SOB!"

"Derek, sit!" She placed a hand on his shoulder and pushed him down onto the bed. He stared at her in surprise; the Penelope Garcia that he knew wouldn't have been so rough. She crossed her arms and asked, "Why are you so stubborn?"

"It's how I am. I can't just sit in this bed all damn day! I need to get strong again and get out there!"

"Your leg-"

"I don't care what the doctor thinks! My leg will get better and I'll be fine!" he screamed at her. Garcia flinched, her expression momentarily changing to fear then back to calmness.

"Derek, I know you're upset. I'm upset to-"

"You don't seem like it! What the hell is the matter with you?"

_Penelope, he's upset and coping. He's hovering between denial and anger. _"I'm just as upset-"

"No, get out!"

Garcia nodded and began walking out of the room in a daze. She was so out of it that she passed Strauss, who was standing outside of Rossi's room, without saying a word to her. The Section Chief watched the technical analyst leave the ICU before she saw Douglas sprinting towards her from the conference room.

"Ma am? A word?" Douglas called out to her. His frazzled expression caused Strauss to think, _Oh now what?_

**Conference room**

"Another body?" Strauss exclaimed as she sat across from Douglas. Douglas tapped his pen nervously against the chair and sighed. "Yes, ma am. I received a call about an hour ago. A body was found within a few miles of the hospital with a note that stated, _'Little by little, bit by bit, I'll get my little pets back before you know it.'_ The body looks like Agent Jareau. He's getting dangerously close and we still haven't caught him, ma am."

"Did you send out his picture-"

"To the media? Yes, ma am. Every form of media within thirty miles has Colmanshire's photo."

"Good. How the hell can we not catch this guy? How does he get within miles of the hospital without being noticed?"

_Damn. _"…..Uh, Agent Reid spoke of three or four accomplices. What if they're the ones getting that are getting close?"

"Did he describe them to Garcia or-or a sketch artist?" Strauss now stood, gripping the back of her chair tightly.

"Yes –he tried to. He said he couldn't really get much physical descriptions. Plus, we saw on the DVD that they were hooded."

Strauss' expression darkened, " So we have no idea what these men look like and now they're within reaching distance of the team? Damn it!" She faced the window where she could see nurses and doctors working as if nothing were wrong. "They escape after all this time to come home and be hunted like animals."

"What if we moved them?" Douglas suddenly blurted out loudly.

"Excuse me?" Strauss demanded, walking towards him.

"What if we move the A squad to Quantico Med or Mercy Heart Medical Center in D.C? Colmanshire is precise and if he's obsessed like we think he is, he'll follow them. Plus, it'll be harder to try and take them down in a town filled with military personal than here. We have guys running through the forest everyday for signs of Colmanshire and if we can't catch him or his accomplices by now , we are severely screwed."

The section chief sighed before muttering, "Call the head of ICU and get him in the conference room in five minutes."

Conference Room

"I would like my agents moved," Strauss stated. The chief resident of the ICU frantically started pacing, "We can't just up and move six severely injured patients because of loon! That's a ten hour trip by car and we don't even have the equipment to do that!"

"I'm sure if we coordinated something with Quantico Medical-"

"No! My patients cannot be moved!"

Strauss stepped within inches of the doctor, who stopped in his pace in shock. "There is a killer running around the woods and making threats against seven of my people. Three people have died through Colmanshire's threats and I personally don't want anymore! I'm not going to ask again- transfer my agents to Quantico Medical. Now."

The doctor hesitated before sprinting out the conference room door. Strauss looked to Douglas, who was staring at the whiteboard deeply as if he were in a trap. " Agent Douglas, are you sure that this is going to work?"

_I hope to hell this does. _"If he really wants the team back, he'll follow them back to Quantico."


	13. Chapter 13

**Author's Note: Have a safe New Years!=]**

**Quantico Medical Center- Two weeks Later**

"You alright, Penelope?" Douglas asked as he placed a cup of coffee in front of the exhausted technical analyst. She at first didn't hear or see him and continued staring at the coffee machine in the hospital foyer.

"Penelope!"

"Huh? Oh, hey sir." She took the coffee graciously and took a sip. " I'm exhausted. I'm either working on the case or trying and failing at getting some rest. It's been weeks and we haven't heard a peep from Colmanahire."

"That's a good thing, Penelope." They started towards the elevators to head to the third floor. Garcia yawned and pulled out the files from her bag.

" I was finally able to compile a list of evrything we got from the team." She handed him a paper as the elevator doors opened to the third floor. "Crime scene techs found no DNA from Colmanshire on any of the bodies that were found so that didn't pan out. We have at least three acomplices- Hotch had been seperated from the team and may have seen another- we don't know. We had followed other traces but like the flower, nothing has panned put. The team also had no recollection of an exact route they took, but they had tried to escape two times before."

"Three times a charm."

"Yeah. Sir, I don't like this. I think he's planning somethingbig. "

"Yeah and we'll get him. The best thing to right now is to focus on the team."

Garcia hesistantly nodded and entered Hotch's room where Jack was quietly standing by the door. Hotch was speaking with the doctor.

"Hey, Jack,"Garcia said. She lifted him into her arms, causing him to smile.

"Hi, Auntie Penny," he answered, "I missed you!"

"I only just saw you, goofy little boy!" She kissed him on his cheek and he wrapped his arms around her neck. It was only then that she noticed that Hotch was glaring at her. Douglas noticed it as well and suggested, " Garcia, why don't you take Jack to get something to snack on if it's OK with his aunt or uncle?"

Hotch suddenly sat forward, ignoring the dpctot's orders to relax. " What about me?" He snapped, "I'm his father!"

Garcia froze before Douglas commanded, "Garcia, go."

Once in the hallway, Jack whimpered," What's wrong with Daddy?"

They turned the corner. "What do you mean?"

"He's sad and don't remememer things. They said that he has amne-sha. What's that?"

"Amnesia is when you forget certain things after hitting your head really hard. Your daddy hit his head and he forgot everything that happened while he was away. He does remember other stuff that happened before like you, your mom, how to read, write- stuff like that."

"I think he mad at me. I's didn't do anything bad!"

"I know you haven't. Your daddy is just sad and upset. He just needs time to get better."

"I guess," Jack sniffled," but Henry cried yesterday 'cause his mommy got mad like Daddy did yesterday. I spilled water on the chair in the room and he yelled at me!"

"It'll get better Jack. I promise."

**Midnight- JJ's room**

"Hotch?" JJ sat up and found her supervisor standing quietly at the door. He held onto the door frame and answered, "Hi, I couldn't sleep," softly.

"Come in. Will and Henry are at home. Come on in." She scooted over and tapped a spot on the bed. "Come sit."

" JJ, I shouldn't-"

"I think we're past work relationship formalities, Hotch." He nodded and sat on the bed next to her. " How are you?"

"I'm alright. Your'e the first one on the team that I've talked to since we were rescued."

"You too. It's shocking that it's been a year."

"I know." She layed her head back on the headrest. " Have you talked with Garcia?"

Hotch sighed and rubbed neck . "Yes, she's different...she's so different, I don't like it."

"Me neither. I don't like how close she's to Henry -he's _my son_. I heard from Will that she's involved in the investigation."

"Yes," Hotch answered. He felt his nerves rising again and suddenly whispered, " I don't remember any of it."

JJ sat up and exclaimed, " You don't remember anything?"

"The last thing I remember was Colmanshire and shattered glass when we raided his home."

JJ placed a hand on Hotch's shoulder while her mind returned back to that day...

_A Year Ago_

_"Are we sure that we want to do this?"Reid asked. Morgan put another clip into his gun as the first SUV came to a halt. _

_"If we don't go in now, we won't get him," Morgan said. He jumped out of the vehicle and walked next to Hotch, who was strapping his Kevlar vest on._

_"SWAT will be here within the hour. We only need to take down Colmanshire. JJ, Reid, and I will enter the house and take the main floors and upstairs. Morgan and Prentiss, take the backyard and Dave, take the basement," Hotch directed._

_The team nodded at their directions and started walking towards the home. JJ entered first and quickly darted up the stairs with Reid seconds behind her. Hotch stepped into the living room, keeping an eye out for Colmanshire. _

_JJ stepped down the long hallway with her gun aimed forward. Reid was looking in the master bedroom two doors behind her. She stepped into the guest bedroom and started towards the closet._

_"Aah!"_

_"Reid?" She called. Suddenly, a hooded figure lunged towards her, knocking her into the bed. JJ grabbed her gun and fired a shot towards the man and missed. In response, he slammed her head into the wall and she lost consicoussness._

_In the masterbedroom,Reid had only seconds before he was pushed trough the door and down the __stairs. _

_At the sound of the gunshot, Hotch sprinted towards the living room doorway. _

_"FBI! Freeze!" He yelled when he saw Colmanshire standing in the kitchen. The man chuckled before answering ," Hello." _

_Hotch almost pressed his finger onto the trigger before something pushed him into the wall. Dazed, he tried to reach for his gun before he was hoisted and thrown into the mirror hanging in the foyer. He saw Reid getting pistol whipped and heard Rossi scream, "Freeze!" before everything went dark._

**Quantico- Garcia's apartment- 12:37 am**

Garcia dragged herself up the stairs towards her apartment. She had stayed in the office so late that she felt like she could sleep for years. The officer assigned to watch her trekked quietly behind her, his steps becoming slower and slower.

"Do you want coffee or something?" She asked over her shoulder. The officer waved a tired hand as she stepped into the apartment.

"Are you going to stand outside tonight or...?"

"Outside, Miss Penelope. Good night." She waved goodbye and closed the door behind her. Dropping her bag onto the couch, she kicked off her shoes and slumped onto a sofa chair.

Everything in her life was out of control.

The team was a mess, especially with three of them incredibly paranoid and one extremely pissed at her.

Colmanshire had been quiet for two weeks. Too quiet.

Douglas had given her the next day off, but with the extras jobs she had asked for to cope with the loss of the team and the fact that the Colmanshire case consumed her life for thirteen months now, she had no idea what to do with herself.

_Sleep...you promised yourself that sleep was the first thing you would do once the team came home. _She shrugged and without changing out of the conservative business attire outfit that she wore, she climbed into bed and fell asleep.

**2:45am**

**Boom!**

"What the! Huh?" Garcia exclaimed at the sound of a loud noise coming from the door. She rolled out of bed and cautiously called out, "Hello?"

With no response, Garcia at first, assumed that the officer that the guard had just no heard her, but the chaos of the previous year and told her that that was a naïve response.

A response she would have given a year ago.

Grabbing the heaviest item she could find, she hesitantly approached the door and opened it. What she found made her want to scream and run .

But she didn't.

The loss of her team had made her stronger; traveling with other teams and being alone gave her the skills of being able to fend for herself. Without her "darling knight and the rest of her pretties" to protect her, she had to learn to deal certain situations on her own.

Situations like finding the officer assigned to protect her lying dead on the ground with a knife wound to neck.

And the words, _I found you, _written in blood next to the body on the carpet floor.


	14. Chapter 14

Across town, Douglas was snuggled in bed with his wife when he heard his phone ring. With his eyes squeezed shut, he pulled over his phone towards him and answered in a low gruff voice, "Hello?"

"Sir...it's me," Garcia's voice croaked out on the other end of the line.

"What is it, Penelope?"

"The officer assigned to protect me is lying dead outside my door." His eyes flew open at that statement and he sat up. Douglas paused before he said," Dial 911-"

"Done, sir."

"Ok...well, call and get-"

"Added security for the team and myself? Done, sir. Agent Jennifer Hannah and her team will watch my team and two agents should be arriving at my apartment soon."

He smiled, impressed at Garcia's calmness during a very stressful situation. "Do you have-"

"I have a baseball bat and a tazer for protection, sir."

_Of course. _" Alright, do you want me to stay on the phone?"

"Actually...no, sir...I thought it'd be good to contact you." On the other end of the call, Garcia nodded while speaking as if he were there with her. _Why aren't you asking him to come or stay on the line? God, I've changed so much!_

"When CSU arrives, can you calmly direct them until the agents come?"

"By myself?" Garcia squeaked. _I can play agent, but to actually touch and work with evidence...I'm only a TA!_

"I taught you everything you need to know. You'll be fine."

"Are you sure, sir?"

"Goodnight, Penelope." Garcia heard a click of the call ending, feeling her heart drop.

She was on her own.

_Ok, so you were the target of the message. What does one do first? _Garcia changed her phone over to the camera option and started snapping photos of the body. It was basic knowledge that one has to preserve the crime scene, but nevertheless, she did what she had learned from traveling to more and more crime scenes: preserve the scene as it was found.

Once that was done, she used party streamer from a previous birthday party and closed off the area around the body. The officer sat in a heap with his back against the door and his head drooped forward. _Second, keep an eye out for CSU or FBI Agents._

"Miss Garcia?" she heard from down the hall fifteen minutes later. Agent Anderson and a tall dark haired male sprinted towards her, both with guns drawn. She pointed down towards the body and stammered, "Pho-tos taken and I haven't moved from where I'm standing."

Anderson pointed down the hallway and without a word the dark haired agent took off as if he were sprinting after a ghost. Anderson turned to Garcia and directed, "Get a bag with everything that you'll need for the next couple weeks or so. He knows where you live and you're his new target so you aren't coming back to this place for awhile."

"Alright, give me a few. Is he checking to make sure it's safe?"

"Yes, ma am."

"And the team's safe?"

Anderson smiled at her question. "Don't worry about the team, they're all ok. So are their families."

"I can't help it. It's what I've been doing for the last thirteen months." Garcia pulled out a large pink suitcase from behind the TV stand and commented at Anderson's grin, "Yes, it's pink. I'm a very eccentric fun person….well, I used to be. This case has…consumed me." She plopped down onto the rosy red couch and asked, "Can you not tell them about this, please?"

"You aren't?"

"No," she crossed her arms, "I haven't told them anything since they came home. All they know is that I get to carry around a badge and be somewhat involved in the case and apparently that's upsetting. The badge and the clothes alone have earned some serious freak outs."

"Well, again, they're adjusting-"

"If they knew that I don't do cool nicknames or say comments to alleviate the dark stuff or even the fact that I can actually look at a dead body and only be mildly freaked out is going to get some major freak outs! I'm not going to say anything."

"Penelope, I've known you for a few years now and I think the team remembers the fun, light hearted gentle Penelope. You had to lose yourself to bring them home; the least they can do is be grateful for that, not angry."

"If they knew half the stuff that I've done within the last year-the New Mexico thing, the being out in the field more-"

"They'd be proud! You took on more jobs and lost that part of yourself as a form of coping. Just like how they're angry at you right now as a form of coping, you are…..technical analyst by day, profiling agent by night." A smile crept onto Garcia's face and she giggled. "Penelope, just tell them everything. If you keep it a secret, it'll drive you madder along with this case. Alright?"

"Yeah…did you just call me a superhero?"

"Yep."

"Thanks."

**Quantico****Medical**** Center-45 Minutes later**

"Excuse me?" Garcia asked the nurse as calmly as she could at the sight of the six empty beds supposed to be occupied by her team mates, "Where are the FBI agents? They aren't allowed to go anywhere without protective detail!"

"Try telling them that," the nurse snorted while flipping through patient charts, " Barely healthy and those six are trying to get back into shape like there's a deadline that have to meet. They're doing laps- well, some- on the top floor. The floor's abandoned so a lot of people go up there-"

_Either they're doing this to be stubborn or doing this because they want to catch Colmanshire ASAP. _"Thank you, miss."

Once they stepped away, Garcia growled, "I'm going to kill them."

"It's probably not that bad-"

"They're the most stubborn group of people you'll ever meet! They'd probably go hunting for Colmanshire right now if they had the choice!"

"Well that's understandable-"

"Not with my team." They both stepped into the elevator and watched the doors close. As it took them to the top floor, Garcia pulled the badge out of her bag, her thumb running over the letters F-B-I. Anderson gave her an encouraging smile that instantly disappeared when the doors opened and Garcia and he found the six agents scattered around the top floor foyer. Prentiss, Hotch, and Rossi were slowly walking across the hallway separating two old wings, Reid was quietly staring out the window while JJ and Morgan were sitting in wheelchairs, both irritable.

"Seriously? What are you all doing?" Garcia yelled as she stepped out, "You are patients and should be in your rooms trying to recover! Where the hell is Agent Hannah and her team?"

"We're here, Garcia," Agent Hannah called out from the old nurses' station. Her team seemed unfazed by the problem which made Garcia's blood boil. "Take them downstairs, now!"

"Penelope, what the hell is the matter with you?" Morgan barked. He glared at her and yelled back, "We're safe! We're walking around just to talk and get our strength back. Plus, no one's up here!"

"Agent Hannah, take them downstairs now!"

Hotch, who had been slowly approaching Garcia unnoticed, suddenly grabbed the badge out of her hand. "Why are you carrying this around?"

"It allows me…to have access to the investig-"

"You aren't an agent!" Prentiss yelled. Two of Agent Hannah's four man team whispered loudly, "She isn't an agent? That's not what I heard!"

_Great, now that's blown. _"I get that you all are upset with Colmanshire, but-"

"No, we're upset with you! You're barking orders, lying about being a federal agent, and even trying to act like Jack and Henry are yours!" JJ exclaimed. Garcia swallowed hard; nothing prepared her to be yelled at by four very paranoid and angry profilers.

"I helped raised the boys while you were gone-"

Hotch stepped closer to Garcia, inches away from her face. "My son had his aunt! Even now, you have no right to have any influence over Jack!"

_They're victims, Penn. They're taking out their anger out on you because you're the closest thing they have. _"I am trying my hardest to help all of you-"

"We don't need your help!" screamed Morgan. Garcia's lip trembled and she looked over to a very quiet Reid and Rossi. "Guys?" she called out in a near whisper. Neither responded, prompting Agent Anderson to step in.

"Agent Hannah, take them back to their rooms. I don't care if you have to drag them down; they're civilians right now so don't let them pull rank on you. Garcia, come on-we need to go."

Garcia held out her hand to Hotch and demanded, "My badge."

"No." He gripped it tightly as if he was ready to fight her for it.

"Fine." Garcia followed Anderson into the elevator and turned to hear, "Garcia, why do you have bags in your hand?"

_Took them long enough to notice. _Without a word, she clicked the elevator close button, having the door close shut before any more questions were asked. Anderson stepped back away from Garcia to give her space; her trembling and frozen expression worried her.

"Penelope?"

"Where am I going for protective detail?"

"Um, well…we're going to head to North Carolina to a safe house for the weekend. From there, we'll find somewhere for you to go where you can be close enough to work on the investigation. The team will stay in Quantico under high security….hopefully, not under Agent Hannah's watchful eye."

The trembling stopped. "Ok, let's head down there immediately." It was a trait she had learned and used many times from Hotch: focusing on the task at hand.

Regardless that her team hated her and that there was a serial killer after her.

**Eden, North Carolina- 4 Hours,45 Minutes from Quantico, Virginia**

"Sir, you're loud and clear," Garcia said to Douglas via webcam. Anderson and she hadn't been in the house more than five minutes before setting up communications with Douglas; apparently something big had been found with the dead body in front of Garcia's apartment door.

"Ok, we got really lucky and got DNA evidence off the body," Douglas said, "It was small, but we caught it. A hit on a man named Hanley Parker came up in the system. I showed it to the team and Agent Reid and Agent Jareau recognized him; the rest of the team, not counting your amnesiac boss-couldn't really tell. Plus, Jareau and Reid said that it was a hazy recognition at best. Wherever they were kept, it was always dark meaning-"

Garcia let out a yawn before cutting off Douglas, " Basement or some creepy underground tunnel thingy. So he's one of the men dropping off the letters and bodies."

"Also, I'd like you to skype with the team; I want to know how Colmanshire knew about you. In his world, you're the last piece of his puzzle. He gets you, he would have successfully kidnapped an entire FBI team. He's obviously taunting you and I think he finds you to be a little intimidating. You restarted the investigation: if he was chasing them after the team when they escaped, you might have slowed him down."

"Here's what I don't get," Anderson interjected, "Why is he taunting you? Parker could have taken or killed you that night; why not kill you? Or why not try and take you while he had the team?"

"I don't know," Garcia stated through a yawn, "Maybe someone should ask the team what they said about me Maybe they were talking about me or something that made him obsessive over me. Sir, it can't be me, by the way, because they all…pretty much hate me."

Douglas sighed and muttered, "Son of a-alright, I'll ask them. In the meantime, Anderson, keep a lookout and Penelope, I want you to get some sleep."

"I can't, sir." Months of holding it together was finally starting to make her crack.

Douglas smiled, automatically understanding the problem. "Cry, Penelope. No one will think differently if you cry."

"I-I," the floodgates burst and the technical analyst broke into tears. Douglas nodded in approval and signed off, leaving Anderson to wrap his arms around her as a quiet comfort.


	15. Chapter 15

**Quantico Medical Center- 12:45am**

In her room, Prentiss was tossing and turning in her sleep while being stuck in a nightmare about the day they had been kidnapped….

_She stood in the backyard of Colmanshire's home with Morgan by her side. They had just stepped into the garden in the small backyard, which stood in front of a large mound. It was still considered to be Colmanshire's property and they hadn't been able to search it without a warrant._

_Now with the warrant in her back pocket, Prentiss slowly approached it while Morgan stood guard, weapon drawn and eyes keeping watch for Colmanshire. She knelt down next to the mound when she spotted a tiny glint of something, sticking up from the grass surrounding the mound._

"_Morgan-" Suddenly, a gun shot rang throughout the house behind them. Prentiss pulled out her weapon as Morgan miced to the team members in the home, "Guys! Guys! What happened?"_

"_We have to go in there," Prentiss stated. She sprinted towards the backdoor while Morgan knelt by one of the windows. She started to hear crash and screams; the sound of shattered glass filled her ears before she pushed the backdoor open and exclaimed, "FBI! Freeze!_

_She found herself in an empty kitchen. Morgan pointed towards the living room and quietly stepped forward._

"_FBI! Stop!" she suddenly heard. It was Rossi's voice; he sounded desperate and angry. Morgan sprinted towards Rossi's voice, leaving Prentiss alone in the kitchen. Something didn't feel right; she had never heard such anxiousness and desperation in Rossi's voice._

"_Agents, you're outnumbered!" Prentiss heard come from the hallway. She bent down behind the counter and saw Reid lying unconscious at the bottom of the stairs. Above Reid, two men with athletic build stood with pointed weapons away from where she hid._

"_I said put the weapons down or we will shoot all of your team members!" the voice from the hallway repeated. It wasn't one of their own….._

"_Ok! Ok. We're putting our weapons down," Rossi said. Prentiss cringed when she heard the sound of two guns being placed on the floor. _

"_Search them and handcuff them," the voice commanded. It was a dominant, strong voice- fitting of Colamnshire. She heard footsteps- it sounded like three sets, but it could be four….._

"_Where's the brunette?" Colmanshire suddenly asked._

"_I don't know what you're talking about," Morgan told him. He suddenly grunted and coughed; Prentiss assumed that he had been hit in the stomach._

"_I'll find her. I saw her. In the meantime-"Colmanshire paused before he said, "Have fun!"_

_At that moment, Prentiss heard ruckus erupt in the hallway. After a few seconds, she heard complete silence. She quietly leaned around the counter and tiptoed to the hallway. _

_She caught a glance of Rossi, Morgan, Hotch, JJ, and Reid all lying unconscious on the ground before everything went dark._

"No!" Prentiss screamed as she shot up in bed. She immediately leaned over the side of the bed and fell to the ground in her emotional furry.

_I got to get to the team, _she irrationally thought before she jumped up and ran to the door. The hallway was nearly empty; only a grumpy nurse in red scrubs sat at the nurses' station with her head in a magazine. Prentiss eyed the nurse carefully before casually walking into the hallway towards the nearest room, Rossi's room. She made it halfway when she spotted Reid sticking his head out of his room door.

The young agent stared at her in confusion before smiling and pointing to Rossi's room. Even with their interaction, the nurse didn't even look up from her post. Both entered Rossi's room and found the rest of their teammates; JJ sat with Rossi on the bed while Hotch and Morgan were sitting in chairs with their feet propped up in adjacent chairs.

"Team meeting and you guys didn't tell me?" Prentiss asked while quietly closing the room door. Rossi smirked, "Don't even go there, missy. We didn't have to even call and you're here."

"Well, I just had a nightmare and I….needed to see you guys." Prentiss hoisted herself onto the bed, right between Rossi and JJ. "I can't sleep much. I don't think I've had a good night sleep in….a year," she ended in a sad laugh.

Her eyes traveled over to Hotch, who seemed lost in his thoughts. "Aaron?" she called; one of the perks of being held captive for a year together was losing formalities.

" Nothing makes sense anymore," Reid suddenly blurted out, " What are we supposed to do know? I know that I should know the answer, with us saying it to victims and their families, but it's harder when you're in that position."

Behind him, Hotch scratched the cast around his wrist and silently nodded. He was exhausted; after doing laps around the top floor that morning, Prentiss, Rossi, and he tried to catch up as much as they could on the previous year events. Once they had all tired out, he retired to his hospital room and spent the night staring at the ceiling.

As his teammates continued to chatter, Hotch leaned back into the pillow behind his back and sighed, listening to the steady patter of raindrops hit the hospital room window.

_Why can't I remember anything from the last year? _The last year came up as a complete blank.

As hard as he tried, nothing came up; it was as if the memories had been shattered into a million tiny shards of glass-damn near impossible to put back together. To make matters worse, no one on the team knew what had happened to him that gave him amnesia. It frightened him immensely, but a part of his nature prevented him from saying anything to anyone.

"Aaron?" Prentiss repeated again. He looked up and answered, "I'm alright. Just a little tired."

She nodded and focused her attention back to Morgan, allowing Hotch to swallow hard and think to himself, _No, I'm not alright. I'm scared…._

**8:30am-Eden, North Carolina**

"Penelope!" Anderson exclaimed while he pushed the sleeping woman's shoulders. She had only received a few hours of sleep on the hotel room couch; both had tried to get as much information on Hanley Parker as possible.

"I'm up…I'm up," Garcia mumbled as she slowly raised her head of the bed. She slipped on her glasses and asked in a yawn, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"

"Yes, but I'm not really sure what to make of it. It's-get up and get ready. We're heading back to Quantico." Garcia blinked in confusion and spotted their bags, packed on the hotel bed. "My team…."

"They're fine. Still trying to overwork themselves, but relatively fine. The thing is that….Hanley Parker walked into the Montclair, Virginia police station and admitted his guilt," Anderson nodded at Garcia's mouth agape, "Yeah- I thought the same thing too! All I know is that we have a four hour trip ahead of us and I personally want to get a few rounds with this guy this big guys at Quantico or even your team before the cops get to him first."

**Montclair, Virginia Police Station- 5 Hours later**

"This is the guy?" Garcia asked as she peered into the interrogation room window. Hanley Parker sat with hands folded and a smirk expression. He was much bigger than Garcia expected; the man was 6' 4" and was in extremely good shape. _Well, I can see how he took down part of the team, _she thought.

"Yep, he just walked into the police station and claimed that he aided in the kidnapping. Lucky, huh?" an officer stated. He immediately backed down at the sight of Anderson's and Garcia's glares.

"Why the hell would he do that?" Anderson muttered as he eyed the suspect, "Parker doesn't seem to care that he's in a hell a lot of trouble."

"Well, it actually does if he's as crazy as Colmanshire," Garcia tilted her head before slowly walking towards the interrogation room, "Something doesn't feel right about this."

Anderson's eyes lit up when Garcia put a hand on the interrogation room doorknob. "Garcia, what are you doing?"

"I want to talk to him," she answered softly, turning the doorknob.

"Penelope, you can't speak him. He's….he's pretty big and essential in the case!"

Ignoring Douglas' comment, Garcia pushed the door open and stepped inside. Parker chuckled at the sight of Garcia. "You know when I first heard about you, I expected someone fat and weak. I'd expect you to be crying in Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan's shoulder right now."

"People change." She sat down across from him at the table, relieved that Anderson hadn't stepped in and tried to pull her out. "Why did you walk in and admit your guilt like that? You don't seem like that type of person."

"Really? What kind of a person do I seem like, Miss Penelope?"

"Arrogant and sadistic," Garcia stated as she laid photos of the bodies found in the forest onto the table, "Did you do this?"

Parker's blue eyes flashed with maliciousness. "I'm not saying a word until I talk to a real FBI agent. I've been keeping an eye on you for a while now- you're just a measly little technical analyst."

"I-" the interrogation room suddenly opened, revealing the FBI director, Strauss, and two unrecognizable FBI agents. The director angrily pointed at Garcia and growled, "Outside! Now!"

" Didn't think the director would come to see this, did ya?" Parker burst into laughter as Garcia slowly stood and walked back out to the bullpen. Before she could fully turn around, the Director started yelling, "He is one of the prime suspect in this case! Who let you in there?"

"Agent Anderson, sir-"

"With you having connection to his victims? That's a huge disregard for FBI protocol! When I said you could help with the investigation, I meant that you could do the little stuff- walk around the crime scenes, SIT in during any interrogations- nowhere did I say that you could use the badge for interrogations on your own or even going out into the damn woods!"

"Sir, the-the Section Chief said-" Garcia felt herself getting very small and insignificant, especially amongst peering eyes.

"Strauss, Anderson, and Douglas are in a whole hell a lot of trouble for letting you run loose! I should fire you-" he pointed his finger at her as if he were going to hand down a huge judgment, "but I'm not going to. Starting tomorrow, you will do ONLY your job of being a technical analyst. I want all of the notes on this case by tomorrow morning. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir, "Garcia whimpered. _Why is this all hitting me at once?_

"Good. Now go home- these two agents will make sure that you are safe from Colmanshire and that you actually follow the rules." The Director walked off in a huff before Garcia could say another word.

_What do I-what-. _Garcia felt her body tremble. _I was careful! The only other person that would rat me out would be Parker and….the team. _Her mind flashed back to the when the team had cornered her on the top floor of the hospital. Agent Hannah's team had thought that she was an agent- _Was that a part of it? _

She turned back to see the Director talking with Parker through the window of the interrogation room. Garcia suddenly went into a panic and sprinted out the station once she had remembered what Parker had said to her: the team had obviously said something about her.

Something that put her in danger.

**Quantico Medical Center-45 Minutes later**

"What did you say to Colmanshire?" Garcia exclaimed when she found the team all in Rossi's room again, forty five minutes later. Morgan hoisted himself onto one foot and yelled, "What the hell are you talking about?"

"You said something about me while you were all away! What did you say about me that Colmanshire and his thugs now know?"

"Why the hell is this important?" JJ snapped, taking a threatening step towards Garcia. Prentiss backed up JJ by adding, " Is this about you lying about your position in the FBI?"

"No, this is about my safety-"

Hotch stepped next to the women and barked, "You're safety? You went into the forest UNARMED and from what I've heard, you've been putting yourself in harm's way for a while now!"

_True….if you only knew the half of it, _"I've been going out into the field with teams more and more-yes, but I did all of that because…." Her mind instantly went blank. For the first time in a long time, it occurred to her that she had no idea why she had done that. It wasn't just going out into the field, it was working on the Colmanshire case, assisting more and more with media liaison positions, the profiling lessons, being a surrogate mother to Jack and Henry- she had never thought twice about it until now. _I guess it's just how I coped._

"I did all of that because I felt that it was the right thing to do-"

"Noo, a year ago you wouldn't have been dumb enough to do that!" Morgan screamed at her. By that point, two nurses poked their heads into the room and asked, " Everything ok?"

"So now I'm dumb? I'm sorry I'm not innocent and scared like I used to be, Derek! I've had to give all of that up to bring you all home! It's been a really hard year-"

"Don't even go there, Penelope. You couldn't even fathom what we went through," Prentiss shouted at Garcia.

"Yes, I can't. But I haven't had it easy either! You all need to stop acting like you aren't victims-" It took an entire minute before Garcia realized that Morgan had slapped her across the face. The room instantly silenced; Garcia froze as she heard gasps come from the two nurses. Garcia then slowly turned her head and found Morgan glaring at her with a hint of remorse in his brown eyes.

Garcia made a small peep before she walked out of the room in complete shock. _He broke them, _she thought, _He broke every single last one of them and turned them into angry…broken souls. _She stepped into the stairwell and sat down at the top of a flight of stairs leading to the first floor. _He destroyed my people and now he's trying to break me as well. Well, I'm not going to give up- I'm not going to let him win. _She whimpered before she started silently sobbing.

_I will catch this man, _Garcia thought , wiping away her mascara stained tears, _No one messes with my family and gets away with it. I will catch you, Colmanshire, and I will make you pay. _


	16. Chapter 16

**Douglas' Home**

Douglas placed the last of his files on the Colmanshire case into a cardboard box before he heard the doorbell ring. He passed by his living room armoire where his empty holster sat. A one month suspension for him hurt, badly.

Douglas opened the door and found Garcia standing in the rain without an umbrella. He ushered her in and asked, "Garcia, what happened?"

She shivered, standing as still as she could amongst the shivers. "I dropped off the information for the Director after he yelled at me for breaking protocol when I spoke to Parker."

He pulled off her purse and ran towards the laundry room to get her a towel. Once he returned, she took it as he asked, "Why did you do it? I taught you better than that."

"I wanted answers. Did you get fired?"

"No," he slumped into a sofa chair, "One month suspension. Anderson got lucky- he's just off the case. Penelope, you look uncomfortable," Douglas commented at Garcia's tense expression. "Did something else happen?"

"I have to go back to old style and personality starting at work…and around the team. Everyone just keeps yelling- sir, as much as I love a bright yellow sundress with red heels, I…..don't want to wear it. A pencil skirt with a cute yellow top, a cute yet soft necklace, and red heels seems just more natural to me. I can do nicknames, but I can't be precious and gentle anymore. I don't know how to go back to that."

"That's normal. You're just comfortable in your attire because right now they're apart of you now," he answered, "If you want to go back to the old you, it'll take time."

"It's funny….a part of me doesn't even want to go back to that."

"Again, Penelope. That's normal," Douglas sighed before continuing, "Since, you've been resilient as hell this past year and for you to just give up is uncharacteristic of you…What are you doing after this?"

Garcia sniffled and wiped her face. "I'm going to walk into Quantico Medical Center and try to earn back the team's trust. They want the old Garcia which is what I'm going to give to them. I'm going to get information about what they said to me…..then I'm going to work, of course. And after that, I'm going to work day and night, hunting for that bastard." Her voice had started out wavering and ended in anger.

_She's had it rough. Maybe someone can help her with this. _" Have you spoken to anyone since the team was found? I know you went to therapy a few times after the team disappeared and after what had happened to you in New Mexico- by the way, do they know what happened?"

_About the homicidal stalker that tried to kill me months ago? Absolutely not. _"No, sir and I don't plan on telling them until Colmanshire is caught. Plus, if after they stop being angry at me for no reason and I tell them, it would-" _Destroy them? Break them? How do you tell people-how do you tell Derek Morgan that you almost died when he wasn't there to save you?_

"I see. Promise me you'll them one day though. They deserve to know."

_Hopefully, they'll want to know. _"Of course, sir."

"So have you found anything since we last spoke?"

A smile appeared on Garcia's face. "Sir, I only gave the FBI the backup of all my information on the case. I did more research and there are a lot of places in those forests- old ranger stations, camping grounds, cabins, old buildings from the fifties- many places to hide and not be found. We need to go back and look at specifically those buildings."

"Well, you can't go due to…" Douglas nodded over to the two agents standing at the door, "I'll go and see if I can take Anderson with me. You, on the other hand, get some rest."

**Quantico Medical Center- The Next Morning**

_Ok, you can do this. Just smile, look like your old self and you'll gain back their trust, _Garcia thought as she stood in the elevator the next morning. She was wearing a bright red dress and a scarf, one of Morgan's favorite outfits on her. However, she had to return back to her apartment and dig through the back of the closet to find her old clothes.

She stepped off the elevator and walked into the physical therapy room where she assumed most or all of the team was having a morning session.

"Ah, there's my Baby Girl!" Morgan said at the sight of her in the dress. JJ looked up from the mat she was lying on and suddenly laughed. "Looking just like your old self, Pen!"

_Play into it. They bought into it. _"Thank you, mon Cherie. Red just felt like my mood today and by the way, thank you for snapping me out of my crazed behavior as of late." _The crazed behavior that's actually normal for me now. _

"Oh, it's because we love you, Penelope, and we missed you, very much. "

"I missed all of you, too. It was hard not seeing you guys- pictures, video, nothing seemed to help me." _Please-someone say something about talking about me while you were away._

Reid seemed to of read of her thoughts and said, "We talked about you a lot, everyone else too, but you more than anyone else. Thinking and talking about your smile, your gentleness, the funny nicknames, and just how you have just a preciousness about you, like a gem or diamond- all of that helped us get through our time in captivity. I remembered worrying about how you were doing without us."

_What? I think I just got my answer. _Garcia bit her lip and forced a smile and a nod. "Thanks, Spencer. That's so sweet."

The nurse working with JJ growled, "Agent Jareau, I need you to lie back down on the mat. If you all want to get out of here by the weekend, you all need to focus on therapy."

_Out by this weekend? Ok, I need to get out of here. _"I can see I'm becoming a distraction here so I'm going to go. See you guys later?" In the corner of her eye, she saw Hotch freeze, his expression become glossed over.

"Hotch?"

"Hotch?" On the second call, the Unit Chief snapped out of his gaze and found everyone in the room staring at him. "You alright?"

"Yeah," he muttered. He looked down to his feet . "I think I just remembered something. I heard Colmanshire's voice, I think, and something about someone saying 'There's one more than we thought'."

"Hmm," Reid stated, "Does that mean anything to anyone?"

_One more….Oh my God! I think Colmanshire meant me! _"Guys, I'll see you later," she told the team before briskly walking out into the hallway. She tore of the scarf and took a second to try and process the information all in her head. _Oh My God…this is bad. This is really really bad._

Garcia whipped out her phone and speed dialed Douglas. If she was right, he and Anderson would be in Manchester by now.

"Hello?" Douglas answered, the wind's high speeds creating a whooshing noise on the phone.

"Sir, it's me. I just found out something really big-"

"Slow down and so did we. I'll go first- we took some volunteer cops with us into the woods and expanded the search to fifty miles. Usually, that's a five week search so we stayed near the Interstate. If you want to transport six live bodies, the interstate is the way to go. One of the volunteer cops has a friend in Libson and they-long story short, we found blood halfway from where the team went missing and where that pile of clothes was found. It's also near a forest preserve, where a person could drive their truck in, drop off people and get away without being seen. We also found that the known as the County West Forest Preserve has lots of cabins- some large, some small- many of them are way off the grid. Unfortunately, there are twenty four spread out through the area. What did you get?"

"Hotch had a brief memory lapse and one of the men, most likely Colmanshire said something about there being one more than they had thought. Sir, I think that it applies to me- let's say that Colmanshire knew that the FBI would eventually storm the house so he got guys together. He then stops killing because he's got a master prize of six FBI agents, but what if with the team talking which they said they did, they found out that there's one more team member? He's arrogant and doesn't like to lose- if he's missing the last piece, he's losing!"

"So the team had spoken about you- what did they say?"

"That I'm precious, gentle, warm, caring- things that Colmanshire would mark as weak."

"Ok, so he didn't know about you until they gave it away."

"Yes, but sir, if you think about it- his crew took down the team at their best. He axed their first two escape attempts, but then they somehow escape barely alive? Sir, I think…..I think he let the team go on purpose so he could get to me. The first message he sent out right after we found the team warned of him getting all of us. Parker didn't just walk into a random police station for the fun of it. It was planned."


	17. Chapter 17

"….I heard that she went into the forest. She's not even an agent!"

Garcia closed her eyes and listened to the faint noise of the conversation going on between the two agents serving as protection detail. They stood outside her room while she was supposed to be getting some rest.

Although tired beyond her wildest dreams, Garcia just couldn't fall asleep.

Two days had passed since her phone call with Douglas. He had alerted the FBI Director of the discovery and after receiving a "good job" and an extended suspension, Douglas and Anderson stayed in Manchester to search the woods with volunteer police officers from nearby cities. In the meanwhile, Garcia had been put on lockdown by the Director in a safe house on the outskirts of Quantico. For someone who had spent a year moving non-stop, being held up in a house for two days was torture for Garcia.

Now laying on her bed, Garcia watched the ceiling fan and listened to the conversation between the two agents. _It's like I'm not even here to them._

She growled in annoyance right before her cell phone rang, doing so as if it were right on queue. Garcia's heart started racing once she saw that it was Douglas.

"Sir?" she exclaimed before Douglas could say a word. He grunted before saying, "We found it."

_Finally. _"You found where they were kept?" She sat up, not bothering to keep her voice down. She heard the voices die down before footsteps approached the door.

"Yes, we found a large empty cabin and after some digging, came across blood that after running it through the FBI system matched a team member of yours," he paused, allowing Garcia to hear chatter from other officers on the line, "We're going to do some more digging. This place stinks."

"Ok…..I'm coming-"

"What?" Douglas exclaimed. Garcia was already off of the bed, throwing an outfit, camera, flashlight, and a tazer Anderson had given her for protection into a bag. "Sir, I can't just sit here while you guys look around."

"Garcia, your safety is priority number one right now! You will stay there-that's an order!"

"Sir, I can't-"

"You have to start thinking rationally, Penelope. The team is home and they are safe, for now. You have to start thinking about your own safety!"

_I can't! Why does every one think that I can't take care of myself? _"Sir, I really think that I could be of help-"

"No." The door to her bedroom suddenly opened, revealing both of her protection agents. One was on the phone while the other stepped into the room, eyes locked on Garcia.

"Anderson should be on the phone with one of your agents right now. Both will make sure that you don't leave the house," Douglas directed. In the background, someone yelled, "We found something!"

"Sir, what-"

"Penelope, this is for your own good and my own sane of mind. You're like my daughter," Garcia's heart dropped at his comment, "I will not-cannot let anything happen to you. So stay there for me…..and the team….and little Jack and Henry. OK?"

Garcia dropped her bag on the ground and huffed, "Fine."

"That's my girl. I'll call you if we find anything. Bye." Once Douglas hung up, Garcia dropped her phone onto the bed and glared at the two agents. "I'm not weak like you two think I am."

The older agent laughed. "Really? That's not what I heard- you're a TA." He reached out to touch her shoulder, but Garcia took his hand and twisted his wrist. He let out a slight yelp and exclaimed, "Geez! I get the point!"

The agent pulled back his hand and rolled his eyes. The second agent chuckled when the older agent muttered, "Weird…."

After both men left, Garcia closed her eyes and whispered, "I'm not weak."

She wasn't; she had become so strong with being on her own. Traveling with teams and seeing the worst serial killers in the country had gotten her used to seeing the worst of the worst. The incident in New Mexico had taught her to be more aware of how she needed to be physical protected; hence, the tazer and training she had learned from the one month free kickboxing lessons that three agents had given her for her birthday. Penelope Garcia was stronger than she had ever been in her entire life.

Then why did she suddenly feel so weak?

**Quantico Medical Center**

David Rossi was never one to sit back and take it easy. Two months in the hospital was driving him crazy.

He sat in his hospital bed, running a hand over the burn on his leg. It had healed greatly over the duration in the hospital, leaving only a slight indentation. His mind was replaying over and over how he had received it. According to one of the kidnappers, the eldest profiler received the burn because "he didn't listen when they told him to sit still." _Didn't listen-damn right! There was no way in hell I was going to let Reid bleed to death there! I had to help him!_

"Dave?" Rossi looked up to see Hotch at the doorway. The Unit Chief walked to his friend's bedside and sat down without a word. "How are you?"

Rossi sighed. "I'm alright. I need to get out of here before I go crazy."

Hotch quietly responded, "Ok," before mumbling, "Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course. Go ahead." _I don't think I've ever seen him this quiet before._

"Can you tell me what happened? I know-know what Prentiss told me about the day we got kidnapped, but," Hotch swallowed, "Can you tell me what happened after?"

_A Year Ago_

_A strong putrid smell filled Rossi's nose, snapping him out of his sleep. He winced before opening up his eyes to a grey ceiling above. His mind took an extra second before he remembered what had happened in Colmanshire's house._

"_Dave, you up?" he heard from his right. It was Morgan, who was in an upright sitting position._

_And was also chained to Rossi._

_Rossi sat up and glanced around the room. Hotch, JJ, and Reid were all chained together on the opposite wall, all still unconscious. Prentiss was chained to Rossi's left and was wavering in and out of consciousness. _

"_What happened?"_

"_We were kidnapped. All of us," Morgan told him, "We have no weapons or technology and we're chained to each other and the wall. Until everyone else wakes up, we're stuck." Rossi tugged on Prentiss' arm, but got no response from her._

"_Well," he muttered, "We can't just sit he-" The door to the room suddenly opened, revealing the man who had pushed Reid down the stairs. The man observed his captives and laughed, "Only two up? I thought you'd all do better than that."_

"_Let us go," Morgan snapped. The man walked over to Morgan slowly and pulled out a tazer. "I'm not going to do that, Agent Morgan. But while we wait for the rest of the team to wake up, you, Agent Rossi, and I are going to have a little fun."_

Present Day

Rossi paused at that point in the story and looked over to Hotch. The Unit Chief was sitting with his head down and eyes locked on a spot on the floor.

"Aaron, we can stop for now. Why don't you go and try and get some rest?" Rossi suggested. Hotch nodded and stood up before mumbling, "Thanks, Dave."

"No problem."

**Manchester, New Hampshire**

"This is….this is extreme," Anderson muttered as he stood in the cabin that Douglas and he had found hours earlier. The first floor was only a living room and kitchen, both mostly empty. There was a stairwell that led to a second floor filled with completely empty rooms. Both men would have moved on to a different cabin if they hadn't found blood underneath a large red loop carpet. After deeper digging, Anderson had discovered a trap door that led to two large rooms and a small hallway below the cabin. Neither room was on the blueprints of the house.

Now, Anderson stood in one of the rooms, shinning a flashlight around the walls of the room, illuminating blood, body fluids, and at one point, nail marks. All of it made him sick to his stomach, even with his many years in the Bureau.

"This is horror movie scary," Anderson said a little louder. Douglas stepped past him into the hallway and stated, "This makes more sense of how he kept them here for a year. Chains on the walls," he pointed to a line of chains that crossed over wall to wall, "I'm assuming they were chained together ….wait, I only count five sets."

Anderson bent down and shined his flashlight over the sets. "There might have been one here before. It looks like this one could or might have connected to something. There was someone taken out of here, maybe?" Anderson suggested, "I'm not sure who it would be….."

"It was Hotchner," Douglas stated.

Anderson raised an eyebrow and asked, "What makes you think it was him, sir?"

"Think about it- how would you destroy a group, a family, or hell-even an army?"

Anderson stared at Douglas before slowly nodding. "You take out the leader."


	18. Chapter 18

**Quantico, Virginia- Safe house**

_Ok, that is it! _After four hours of sitting in her bedroom, Garcia slid of her bed and grabbed her purse. She opened the door and found herself face to face with one of her protection agents. He darkened his expression and barked, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I can't sit in here anymore. I want to go out- I am going out and the only way I'm not is if you tie me to the bed!" She pushed past him, but staggered back when he yanked her towards the room. "No way in hell," he exclaimed, "You're on lockdown for your own safety!"

"I am about to go nuts sitting in this small house! How about we make a compromise? There's a small flower shop down the street- give me five minutes in there and then I won't bug you for the rest of the day. Tomorrow's fair game, though."

Both agents exchanged looks, the taller one stating, "We can't let-"

"Five minutes or I raise chaos." Garcia smiled when both agents sighed in a form of surrender. She turned towards the front door and thought; _I need five minutes to breathe. Five minutes to just…breathe._

**Rosa's Flower Garden- 1 block away from Safe House**

Garcia stepped into the small flower shop and walked down to the section filled with pink and white roses. She needed this; the stress of Colmanshire and the team's actions towards her were making her break down. Taking Douglas's advice to mind, she had decided that something warm and calming would be good for her.

Garcia sighed as she bent down and smelled her favorite rose, known as _Brigadoon_. "It's so pretty," she whispered, only earning a grunt in response from both agents. She straightened up, just in time to see a man in a dark jacket staring at her from across the aisle.

_Who the hell-_ The man moved into another aisle and quickly walked out of the store. "Did you- did you guys see that?" she asked the agents in her protection team. Both shrugged, causing Garcia to roll her eyes. "Never mind."

She walked to the end of the aisle, with both eyes on the store entrance. Whoever that man was, he seemed interested and suspicious of her. Garcia turned around and almost bumped in a store employee, who was holding a small envelope in her hands.

"Ma am, are you SA Garcia? Someone told me that I should give this to you…..something about a life or death situation- should I call the police?" the employee asked. Both agents took the letter out of the woman's hands and examined it carefully.

_SA? I'm not- how does she? _Garcia muttered, "Umm, thank you, ma am. We'll….um, take it from here." _How did they know that I was here? _

"Give it to me!" Garcia suddenly exclaimed. She pulled the letter out of one of the agent's hands and ripped it open. Inside, there was a small photo showing the team in one of the physical therapy rooms, supposedly taken through the window. Garcia focused her attention on the letter with both hands shaking and read:

_How does it feel to be lonely in this world, Miss Garcia? You walk around lying to people, yourself- you act like you're an actual agent! How does it feel to know that I have control?_

_Enjoy this peace while it lasts- because when we strike and take what's rightfully ours, none of you will ever see the light of day again._

_Maybe it'll be months from now. _

_Or maybe it'll be at 2:45 today._

"That's….Oh God!" She looked up and muttered, "Get….get the team out of the hospital! Now!"

**Quantico Medical Center- Physical Therapy Room 3**

"Come on, Derek. Walk over to me," Prentiss called out to Morgan, who was struggling to keep in a standing position twenty feet away from her. Morgan grimaced and took a stumbling step forward, caught mid fall by a physical therapist. The therapist calmly told him, "Little by little, Agent Morgan. You're in no rush-"

"I am in a rush!" Morgan growled, pushing himself off of the therapist, "I need to get better so I can catch that bastard!"

"Well, re-injuring yourself isn't going to help!"

"I am not-ugh- going to sit here," Morgan took three steps towards Prentiss, "and whine and cry about this!" He suddenly fell forward and landed on his shoulder. "Damn it!"

"Ok, that is it!" the therapist exclaimed, "Both of you! Back in your rooms!"

"Wuss," Morgan muttered as Prentiss walked over to the door and pulled over his wheelchair. After Morgan climbed in, Prentiss pushed her fellow agent out of the room, ignoring the physical therapist's cries for her to, "not push herself and have someone else push him."

Once they made it to the hospital wing they were staying in, Prentiss froze when she spotted Hotch speaking with two FBI agents. A very pale Reid sat in a wheelchair outside his room next to a pile of bags. Rossi and JJ sat on the floor across from Reid, both extremely angry.

"Kid, you ok?" Morgan asked Reid. The youngest agent leaned over and muttered, "I just feel crappy today."

"I'm sorry….why are all of our stuff out here?"

As if on cue, Hotch walked over to them and stated, "We're leaving."

Prentiss' eyes lit up at the news. "Really? Finally, we get to go home."

"No," the Unit Chief's expression darkened, "We're being moved somewhere else. They won't tell me where or why. The only thing that I was able to get was that Garcia spoke with the FBI director and now we're being moved."

"Just like that?" Prentiss exclaimed. She turned to see Garcia walking up the stairs towards them, "Who does she- Garcia! What did you say to the director?"

Garcia marched towards her and exclaimed, "You guys haven't left yet?"

"Garcia, what's going on? Why are we being moved?" Hotch exclaimed as Garcia glanced around the room as if she was looking for someone. She swallowed and answered, "I- you guys just need to be checked out- where are those agents?"

"No, you don't get to pull that on us right now!" Prentiss yelled, "You tell us what's going on right now!"

"Everyone is in danger and we need to move!" She pointed towards the nurse's station, "You guys have to sign out and then a group of agents will escort everyone to a safe point-"

"How do you know this? I thought you were fired from our case?" Morgan barked.

"I was, but the Director allowed me and my team-"Oh_ no, that came out wrong!_

"You're team?" Morgan exploded. He pulled himself up from the wheelchair with help from a very angry Prentiss and Hotch. Even Reid seemed angry amongst his pale expression.

"We are your team, Penelope! Ever since we've come home you've been nothing but rude and out of control! Did you even want us to come home?" Morgan yelled, drawing attention to them. Shocked, Garcia staggered back and exclaimed, "I have done nothing but fight for you all to come home! You all are my team- I just meant the team that I have been working day and night with for the past year to bring you all home-"

By this time, JJ and Rossi had joined the argument. "We escaped! What did you do?"

"I pushed for everyone to keep looking! The entire team was assumed dead four months after you all went missing! I have taken care of the children-"

"We never asked you to take care of the children!"

_Why are they attacking me! Penelope, focus on the case! _"I'm sorry that I've angered you all, but we need to leave now!"

Before another member could say another word, she walked out into the hallway where ran into Anderson. He dangled his keys in front of her and said, "We just got back. I heard about the letter, but on the bright side, I'm your driver to the safe house."

"Thanks, let's go," she replied softly, thinking, _At least he isn't yelling at me._

**Interstate 95- 89 miles from Quantico, Virginia**

In an unmarked vehicle, Anderson sped down the highway while Garcia sat in the passenger seat. The technical analyst was finishing up a call with the agents ordered to transport the team. Anderson kept an eye on Garcia, sneaking a peak at her every few minutes. She looked beyond exhausted and broken.

She hung up the phone and sighed. "The team has been very uncooperative, but they're on their way to the safe house. FBI agents scanned all nearby buildings and have no idea how whoever took the picture got so close to take a photo or even sneak a letter to me."

"This guy makes no sense to me, period. He attacks women and then suddenly kidnaps six agents. After a year, he lets them go once he finds out that you're the last man standing on the team. So he decides to get you by screwing with us and your head as much as possible? Why?"

"I don't know," Garcia answered, "Colmanshire….why doesn't he just make a move so we can finish this!"

"Penelope, don't say that!"

"I'm so tired….." she closed her eyes and whimpered, "I'm just so tired of this…"

"Team's still pissed at you?" Anderson asked. He pulled the vehicle into the next lane as they sped down the highway. Garcia nodded and quietly said, "Yep, I'm not even sure if it's coping or just that they really hate me."

"They don't hate you- they're just….give them time, Penn. The priority is catching Colmanshire, protecting the team and you. Worry about the little stuff later."

"It's funny," Garcia said in a softer, wavering voice, "I had imagined for months that if I ever found the team alive, everything would be ok. I never once realized that things would be different- they would be different, I would be different. A part of me expected to be sitting and talking with them, smiling, laughing, Derek and I messing around- I expected the perfect happy ending….and now I realize that things won't ever be the same."

"Well, these things take time-"

"The letter that Colmanshire wrote…he was right! I am alone!" Garcia bowed her head and started silently sobbing. "I've been alone since I was 18 and just when I started to get comfortable with people that I love- he takes them from me and destroys them! Please, can you promise me something?"

Anderson hesitated before quietly answering, "Yes?"

"Promise me that we will catch this bastard and that he'll pay for everything that he did. Promise me that we'll catch him and….promise me."

"I will- I promise," he smiled, "I promise you also that your team, _your family_, will heal and come back to you and that you'll heal from the pain you've been through as well."

Anderson took a second and looked at Garcia, who had a glossy, lost expression on her face. In a second, her expression instantly changed. Garcia's eyes widened as Anderson turned his focus back to the road.

Garcia nervously asked,"Anderson, why is that car-"

Less than 200 feet away, a silver jeep was speeding down the opposite lane. It suddenly swerved into their lane and barreled down towards them. Anderson had only seconds to respond; he started breaking and turning the vehicle, but it was useless.

The impact of the vehicles colliding against each other was the last Garcia heard before she lost consciousness.


	19. Chapter 19

_I don't like this. I don't like this one bit, _Hotch thought as he stepped out of the SUV in front of the new safe house; a large eight room house in Danville, Virginia. The drive over was quiet; most, like himself, were fuming over being relocated.

_Why is it so hard to tell us what's going on? _Hotch thought as he walked up the front steps with Rossi and Morgan staying close behind. Already inside were Reid, Prentiss, and JJ, all three talking amongst themselves. Once Hotch, Morgan, and Rossi entered the home, Reid spotted them and waved them over.

"Something's wrong," Reid told them in a quiet voice, "One of the agents got a call ten minutes ago and everyone has been a little crazy since. They won't tell us anything."

"Is something wrong?" Douglas asked as he approached the group. The agent had arrived with JJ, Reid, and Prentiss and had stood at the window to keep watch ever since. He ignored the glares from the team as Hotch stated, "We'd like more information on our current situation and….it seems as if something happened."

"There was an accident," Douglas stated, his eyes glued to the window. Morgan pushed himself forward in the wheelchair and asked, "Ok. So what's the problem?"

"I shouldn't even tell you this…" Douglas trailed off at the sight of a silver Ford SUV pulling up to the front of the house. Outside, the team could see four agents aiming the weapons towards the vehicle. Anderson suddenly pulled himself out of the driver's seat and fell to the ground. The agents immediately lowered their weapons and tended to his side. Anderson immediately pushed them off and pointed to the back seat.

The team watched in complete shock as two agents pulled an unconscious Garcia out of the backseat. Like Anderson, who was now limping towards the front door, she was covered in blood. Douglas propped the door open as the two agent carried Garcia in. She was carried into the living room and laid down on the couch. Four agents ran to her side while Anderson limped in quietly.

Morgan shook his head in disbelief as he watched the agents tend to Garcia. "This shouldn't have happened. We shouldn't have been moved. God, what was she thinking?"

At that moment, Anderson snapped. He grimaced before pointing towards the dining room door. "All of you in there! Now!"

Douglas put a hand on the agent's shoulder to attempt the calm him down, but Anderson brushed him off. "I am tired of all this playing nice crap! Penelope could have died and- get in the damn dining room now!"

Reluctantly, the six agents walked towards the dining room. Anderson grabbed a quick look at Garcia before turning and following the team.

"What happened?" Hotch asked as he sat down at the opposite end of the dining table. Anderson placed his shaking hands on the table and growled, "We were hit head on by one of Colmanshire's men! After our vehicle flipped twice, the guy started shooting like a wild man until I killed him! Police from nearby cities then arrived and loaned us that SUV. Our goddamn car was totaled and Penelope," he bit his lip to contain his emotions, "She's barely alive. You all could have lost her today without even ending on good terms because you all are too damn egotistical to admit that you're victims!"

"We aren't victims-"Prentiss exclaimed.

"Do any of you realize what Penelope did for you while you were away? "

_A lot, but that doesn't explain her behavior towards us, _Hotch thought before stating, "She's changed."

Anderson threw his hands up in frustration and exclaimed, "You all are upset because she's not gentle anymore? Are you serious?"

Morgan exclaimed, "She's snapping at us-"

"Your TA, a future goddamn agent in my opinion, had to give up a lot of herself to fight like hell to get you all home!"

"We escaped-" Reid piped.

"He let you all go! You all tried and failed on two escapes while healthy but then you all miraculously make it through the forest barely alive on the third? You all really thought that?"

The team exchanged looks before looking back to an irate Anderson. He continued, "While you were all in Colmanshire's clutches, one of you mentioned her and that psychopath heard you! Since Colmanshire is a son of a bitch that doesn't like to lose, Penelope is his newest goal. He now wants to complete his puzzle of kidnapping a full FBI team- the six of you without Penelope isn't the full puzzle. We believe that you all can be used as leverage to draw her out. She needs you all to be there for her right now!"

When no one responded, Anderson anger skyrocketed. "I mean, jeez guys! Penelope has been through hell and back in the past year-" he was cut off by JJ standing up and stating, "No, _we _went through hell and back. I was raped repeatedly for God's sake! None of you can even fathom what we went through-"

"Really?" Anderson turned and emptied an evidence crate onto the table. With his good hand, he dropped all the evidence found in the past few months: the clothes, blood evidence, the DVD Garcia had received, the photos she had received- countless items that had been accumulated from a year of investigating.

"This…this must have killed her," Rossi muttered as he picked through their bloody clothes. Anderson nodded in agreement and said in a calmer tone, "You damn right it did, but she pushed through it. We've seen a part what happened- the torture and pain, so no you can't say that we can't know or even fathom what you all went through."

Hotch picked up a striped red and silver tie and swallowed to keep himself from crying. _I don't remember any of this! How can I- I don't even remember wearing this! _Behind him, JJ broke into tears at the sight of her necklace.

"Penelope did so much for all of you! So much- she came to me and Agent Douglas to teach her how to profile and she kept looking- she….she wouldn't stop looking! Even the funeral…can any of you imagine burying all six of you at the same time? The list goes on-she took preventative measures to protect herself, she went out into the field, became a professional; the woman became a mother to Jack Hotchner and Henry LaMontagne! So yes, she has changed- no more sparkle pens or funky clothes, no more smiles and giggles. You all went through the worst imagined and I understand that, but ….you all…you all owe her your lives."

By this time, Morgan, Reid and Prentiss were both in tears. Rossi and Hotch struggled to keep their composures, Hotch soon failing before Rossi.

Anderson dropped his shoulders and sighed. "For the next 48 hours, I don't want any of you within ten yards of her. I'll keep you updated on her health, but that's it. In the meantime, you all need to _actually_ take time to recover, adapt back to your lives, and think about how the hell you all are going to make this up to her."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N: Because the team disappeared from July 29, 2010 to July 29,2011, any of the events that happened in the sixth or seventh seasons do not exist in this story, like the Doyle incident.**

Before anyone could say another word, Anderson stepped out of the room. At the close of the door, he sighed, his mind flashing back to the heartbroken and guilt-ridden expressions on each team member's face. He took a second to listen for anything-_any noise_- coming from the room, but all he heard was silence.

_Worry about them later. Let's check on Penelope. _He sprinted over to the living room where he found Douglas slowly wrapping a pressure bandage around Garcia's wrist. She was now covered with a blanket and was staring blankly at the ceiling.

"Hey, you. Thought I'd lost you there," he softly said to her. Garcia's lip trembled as she reached a hand out to him. "I'm sorry about the accident," he continued, squeezing her hand, "We'll get his bastard and then go to a beach in the Caribbean."

Garcia smiled and whispered, "Team?"

"Don't worry about them. I kind of yelled and told them that they can't come near you for the next two days." Garcia frowned and Anderson added, "Hey, they need to get themselves together- you have done so much for them and they need to appreciate that. "

"Okay. Every-thing hurts."

Anderson placed a hand on her forehead. "I know and it'll get better. Here's what I need you to do for me, Penelope. I need you to rest-sleep is more like it. You're no good to anyone running on empty."

"Been…running…empty…since they went missing."

"Well, then let's make sure you don't start running into the negatives." Both agents exchanged smiles when Garcia nodded and closed her eyes. As the technical analyst drifted off to sleep, Douglas looked over to the dining room door. "Are they still in there?" he asked.

Anderson groaned and muttered, "Yeah- I'll get them going."

When he returned to the dining room, he found all six agents sitting quietly in somber moods. JJ held her head in her hand, her mascara stained face staring at the evidence bags. Prentiss and Reid sat next to here, arms linked, with Prentiss resting her head on the youngest agent's shoulder. Morgan sat across from Reid, rubbing his wrist as he stared at a picture of him and Garcia. Rossi and Hotch sat at the opposite end of the table, both staring at the empty fireplace.

"All of you upstairs," Anderson told them. He received six tearful looks. "I know that I gave you all one massive guilt trip and you want to sit here and feel sorry for yourselves, but you can't. You all need to go to your rooms and sleep."

"I don't think I can," Reid said quietly.

"Yes you can and you will. I want all of you in your rooms resting. Don't try to do anything stupid; I will be checking in every twenty minutes. Come on, you all tried to check out of the hospital at least a month ahead of schedule. Do any of you honestly feel like you're physically up to date?"

No answer.

"I need an answer."

One by one, each agent answered, "No."

"That's what I thought. I don't mean to be hard on all of you, but I care about Penelope- a lot. She lost her family all in one day and I was there to help her through it. Now, before I hand her back over to you all, I want to make sure that she'll be in good hands. Now go."

JJ winced before whimpering, "We-we don't-"

"Deserve it? Trust me, you all deserve to be taken care of and loved, just like Penelope. Now, don't make me say it again-upstairs."

Hotch hesitated before asking, "My son-"

"He's with Agent Jareau's boyfriend and son at a different safe house. They'll be here in the morning," Anderson answered. He pointed and motioned upstairs. Once the team started complying, he sighed. "Thank you. "

2:47am

Rossi turned onto his side and crossed his arms. He had been laying wide awake in his bed for four hours. He was exhausted- Rossi never wanted to sleep more in his life, but he just couldn't.

His mind was racing again- it wasn't really about the danger he was in, it was more about Garcia than anything else. In the four years that he had known her, he only saw a bright, loving woman whose innocence kept everyone on team sane of mind. He had never once considered what would happen if any of them had died on her, let alone six. Not once had he thought of how Garcia would cope if her world had fallen apart.

_Burying us-all of us! I can't even imagine how I'd feel burying just one of us. _Rossi turned back onto his back and sighed. _How does one make this up to a person? We've saved each other before, but not like this. She saved all of our lives by not letting us go._

"No…."

Rossi tensed up at the words coming from Hotch, who he was sharing a room with. Rossi turned his head to see Hotch tossing and turning as he was lost in a nightmare-no, a memory of the kidnapping…

_A Year Ago_

_Hotch looked over to see Colmanshire standing at the door entrance. The man was tall, physically defined, and gave off an arrogant personality. Morgan suddenly yelled out, "Let us go, you son of a bitch!"_

"_Manners, Agent Morgan. Manners," Colmanshire answered. He stepped closer towards the team and chuckled, "I can't believe it. I took down what was supposed to be one of the best teams in the FBI!"_

"_Let us go," Morgan repeated through gritted teeth. He quieted when Rossi tugged on the handcuff they shared, signaling him to quiet down. Hotch shifted his sitting position and stated calmly, "I'm sure we can work something out. If you let us go-"_

"_Let you all go?" Colmanshire kneeled next to JJ and brushed away a strand of her hair. She scooted over towards Hotch and glared back at Colmanshire. _

_He chuckled at her response and said, "None of you will ever see the light of day again. I caught you and now you all belong to me."_

"_You can't-"_

"_I can do whatever I want, Agent Hotchner," He walked over to Hotch, "Now that you all belong to me, here are a few rules: you will respect me as your owner. I will punish every disrespectful comment, word, look- all of it! Secondly, you will all be addressed by your first names and will answer 'Yes, sir'. Thirdly, you will accept the fact that you all are nothing but items-my new trophies and nothing more. Do you all understand me?"_

"_That's crap!" Morgan exclaimed. Colmanshire took a knife and slashed Prentiss across the face. He stopped at the satisfaction of the team begging, "Leave her alone! Don't touch her!"_

_Colmanshire turned to Morgan and asked, "Let me say this again- do we have an understanding?"_

"_Yes," every agent answered. Colmanshire smiled in contentment and said, "Alright then, first order of business." He pulled out a zip tie and tied them around Hotch's ankles. He then punched Hotch in the face and disconnected the chain links that had connected Hotch to JJ and Reid. _

"_What are you doing?" Hotch exclaimed as Colmanshire started dragging him towards the front door. Amongst the protests from the rest of the team, Colmanshire exclaimed, "Say goodbye to Aaron!"_

"_Let me go!" Hotch exclaimed as he was dragged into the hallway and into a smaller room. It was dark and the size of a closet. Colmanshire pushed him onto the ground and connected his handcuffs to a link on the wall. "Let me go!"_

_Colmanshire only grinned and slammed the door, leaving him in the dark. A minute of silence passed before Hotch heard Reid's screams….._

Present Day

"Aaron! Aaron! Wake up!"

Hotch jolted awake, panting as he looked up to Rossi's worried face. He asked, "What? What happened?"

"You were yelling out in your sleep! You had a nightmare," Rossi said as Hotch sat up. The Unit Chief felt his heart drop at the sight of Reid and the rest of the team standing at the doorway. Hotch took a steady breath and said, "It was a memory. I remember being dragged out of a room that we had all been in and Reid screaming out in pain. It was frightening. Reid, what happened?"

Reid looked down to his feet. "I was beaten up after you were taken away for no reason."

Rossi sighed and turned to the team. " Forget about Anderson's rules. I think we need each other right now more than anything else. Go grab blankets and pillows and return here. We're just going to sit and talk. Alright?"

As JJ, Reid, and Prentiss left to get their items, Hotch sighed and closed his eyes. He didn't notice Rossi leave the room as he thought, _I'm not really sure if I want to know the rest of what happened anymore._

When he reopened his eyes, he found himself in the room alone with Morgan. The African American agent was sitting quietly in the wheelchair with his head bowed. Hotch sat up and called out, "Morgan?"

"It was me," he muttered in responded. Morgan slowly brought his head back and said, "I know you can't remember any of what happened, but about the one who blew the information about Garcia….it was me."


	21. Chapter 21

"What do you mean?" Hotch asked. Morgan sniffed and wiped away a tear. "This was after we had thought that you'd died….and some of us were beginning to lose hope of being rescued. A few us got to reflecting on….what we'd leave behind if we died and I came up that besides my sisters and my mother, I'd leave behind Penelope. She's…..you don't know how much you really care about a person until you start missing them like crazy."

"I know," Hotch stated, "She's…."

"So many good things that it leaves you speechless?"

"Yeah." Hotch saw that Reid, Rossi, and Prentiss had entered the room. Prentiss sat on the bed next to Hotch and asked, "Everything ok?"

"Yeah," he answered back, "We were just talking about Penelope."

Rossi sat down in the chair next to Morgan. "It's funny that after four years, I didn't realize that she was such a fighter."

"That's our girl," Morgan chuckled. JJ entered the room and sat down next to him. "What should we do now? " she asked, "I don't see myself falling asleep anytime soon."

"We reflect back on what we've been through," Rossi said, "we figure out what we do next in our lives."

**The Next Morning**

Garcia moaned as she sat up early the next morning. Everything hurt- a part of her wanted to lay down and sleep forever, but she couldn't.

They needed to catch Colmanshire.

She swung her legs off the side of the couch, grimacing at the shooting pain in her back and abdomen. _Get up and get to work! We can rest later; _she thought as she stood up and walked towards the foyer. Garcia walked past a pile of suitcases, instantly spotting Henry's small red suitcase and Jack's blue and green suitcase.

_At least the boys are here safe. _Garcia walked over to the dining table before she suddenly heard the front door open and slam close. She turned around to see Anderson bring in a stack of files and drop them on the table. An irate Douglas entered after him, grumbling as he entered.

"What happened?" Garcia asked as Douglas sat down at the table. He nodded his head in disbelief. "Do you remember Agent Hannah, the agent who watched the team in the hospital?"

"Yeah," Garcia responded slowly, nervously , praying that it was good news.

"Well, she was found dead in her apartment with these, "Anderson pulled out an evidence bag filled with a stack of letters and dropped them on to the table, "Each member of the team, including you, got their own personal letter. That bastard!"

"Oh God." Garcia picked up the bag and felt her stomach drop at the sight her name on a letter. "He just keeps taunting and taunting us….."

"That's not even the worst part. The ME back in Quantico identified rope and burn marks, both signs of Hannah being tortured. She might have given up information about where we are. "

"What?" Garcia jumped up and looked towards the hallway at the top of the stairs. "Shouldn't we go somewhere else?"

"No, Penelope," Anderson sat down and sighed, "There's no point of moving place to place every time he gets close. We increased the security around the house tenfold- there are fifteen agents and ten police officers surrounding us. Colmanshire would need a goddamn army to get inside. "He noticed Garcia's stare at the evidence bag. "Do you want to look at them?" he asked.

"I don't-I don't know. Should we give them to the team?"

"They're already scared and feeling guilty. They don't need the added stressor."

"Ok, then let's-um- let's look at the driver who tried to kill us," Garcia suggested as calmly as she could.

Anderson pulled out a rap sheet for a tall Hispanic male. "This is Private Joseph Luis, a Californian that served with Hanley Parker."

"Parker was military?"

"Yep, he crossed paths with Luis multiple times over in Afghanistan. However, when Luis returned home, he got in to some major drug dealing and served three years in prison. He was released a year and a half ago, the same time Parker returned to the States."

Garcia glanced at the address of Luis' most recent home. "Are there any more connections between the two men?"

"Both were dishonorably discharged, hence the drug dealing for Luis. Parker came home and drank himself into debts. The weird thing is that they started receiving $1200 a day at the same time from an unknown source starting the day your team was flown in to Bristol."

"Colmanshire?"

"Most likely. I think when Colmanshire spotted that the FBI was getting close; he realized that the team would be the ultimate prize. So I think he hired Luis and Parker to help him take down the team. Both were down on their luck and needed the money, so they took it."

"Hmm," Garcia bit her cheek and nodded, "That makes a whole lot of sense. Parker and based on this photo, Luis were both physically fit enough to take down my team. Did the money stop after the team was kidnapped?"

Anderson smiled. "You smart girl. The payments stopped the day they went missing. I'm thinking they started receiving cash payments from then on. We have herds of techs checking any surveillance around Agent Hannah's home and even more techs trying to trace the money payments. Since it was done a year ago, it's going to be tough."

"Ok, so now what?"

"We wait and see what to do next," he paused, "How are the boys?"

"I was asleep when they got here, but in general they are nervous and scared to be around their parents."

"Understandable. The team-your team is…they're apologetic, I believe and if they saw your profiling skills they'd be impressed and proud." Garcia snorted in response and said, "Or they'd be annoyed."

"You never know, Penelope. Agent Morgan will be calling you-what was it? Baby Girl?"

Garcia chuckled and nodded. "Yes, he always called me Baby Girl."

"Yeah, you'll be Baby Girl again before you know it…..Agent Hotchner?" Anderson looked up to see Hotch standing at the top of the stairs. Garcia stood up and called, "Hotch?"

"Um, may I speak with Garcia if that's alright?" he stammered. Anderson and Douglas exchanged looks before Garcia said, "I'll be alright." She walked up the stairs and noticed that Hotch was extremely upset. His eyes were red and his hand was shaking as if he had heard or seen something disturbing.

"Come on, let's go towards the library," Garcia directed, motioning over to the small library located at the end of the hallway. As Hotch numbly walked towards the library, Garcia saw her team mates standing near Hotch's bedroom at the end of the hallway.

_Why won't they-oh right. I have to remember to ask Anderson about what he told them,_ she thought. Garcia turned and followed Hotch into the library.

"What's up?" Garcia asked once she had closed the door to the library behind her. Hotch mumbled, "I needed someone to talk to…that wouldn't-that wouldn't-"

"Is it your about your memory loss? Do you have another nightmare?"

"Yes." Hotch sat down in the chair close to the window and sighed. "I can only remember very little and it's terrible. A part of me wants to remember what happened, but the other part of me doesn't. I guess I'm scared to find out."

Garcia sat next to him and touched his arm. Her heart sank at the sight of the scars and bruising on his neck and arms. "The best thing that I can say, Hotch, is that I think you want to know because that's who you are. I believe that you like having control, but with this whole kidnapping/amnesia thingy, you don't have it anymore."

He cocked his head and gave her a shocked look. _Did she just profile me?_

Garcia seemed to have read his mind and said, "I can profile now. I-It helped me track…..you...guys down." Hotch grimaced before he dropped his head and started silently sobbing. Garcia held him as he sobbed, praying that her family would soon get time to heal.


	22. Chapter 22

**Belle's Bar- Danville, Virginia- 11 miles from the Safe House**

Bar owner Annabelle Grace placed a clean glass into the bar's white cupboard before dropping her dishrag onto the counter. It was unusually quiet for a Thursday afternoon, most of her midday clients were nowhere to be seen. She had an inkling that it was due to the heightened security in the area. Whoever the individual that was causing the FBI and Danville police officers to patrol the streets, they were bad for her business.

She placed both hands on the counter and observed her bar. A couple sat on stools near the gaming machines and one of her usual drunks sat at the counter, swirling a glass of rum. All appeared to be normal…except for the man at the back at the bar.

"Well, I'll be dammed," Annabelle whispered at the sight of him. She hadn't seen the man walk through the door, which bothered her. Annabelle always knew when people came in; it was her job to know. Curious at the man's choice to sit in the darkest part of the bar, she casually walked over to create small talk.

"Hey, stranger. Didn't see you come in here."

"You watch the news?" the man grumbled, keeping his head down. Annabelle sighed, "Not really. I usually get the real important stuff from friends. I find the news media to all be crap."

"I see. You from around here?"

"Born and raised. Come on up front and let me get you a drink. "

"No, thank you though. I do have a question since you're from around here. My friends and I wanted to do some exploring of the woods. You see, we've come all the way from Manchester, New Hampshire looking for some…. items that are very important to all of us. With all the police officers and federal agents around, we can't seem to get anywhere near the woods. I know that there's a mansion that some," he grinned, "special guests are staying and we believe that the mansion could be close to the….. things that we are looking for. We don't want any trouble-"

"You want to get into the woods without drawing attention to yourselves."

"Yeah, just for a bit of searching. We'd really like to find these…things again."

"I see," Annabelle walked over to the counter and pulled out a map of the area. She turned, expecting to see the man still sitting at the table, but found him now standing by the door. Her other three customers seemed to not have noticed.

"You almost gave me a scare. Hey-It's the middle of September- what's so important that you have to try and dodge cops and feds?" Annabelle chuckled nervously. The man walked over to Annabelle and said, "My good friend…Michael had found out a few months ago that he hadn't got the last pieces of a puzzle or a prize, you can call it, and he wants to complete it. The things that we are looking for will help us complete the puzzle."

"I'm sorry about that. Well, if you take this pathway here," she nervously placed a finger on the map, "You should be able to pass by the cops and feds with no problem."

"Thank you, ma am." He turned, allowing Annabelle the chance to call the police. However, by the time her fingertips touched the phone behind the bar, everything broke out into chaos. A pounding force hit her on the back of the head and she fell to the ground. In a blink of an eye, she could hear her customers screaming out for help.

She blinked again and then heard silence, an eerie silence. She had hoped that the man had finished whatever he had done and left. Her hope was squashed when the man suddenly appeared at her side and grabbed her neck.

"Guess what the puzzle was," he suddenly barked. Annabelle gasped out, "I-I...don't know!" He tightened his grasp on her neck and whispered, "Remember that team of FBI agents that were kidnapped and somehow got free? I'm sure you've heard of them."

"Ye-yes."

"Good because here's a little secret: I helped in kidnapping them, but then found out that there were seven team members instead of the six that we had originally thought." He chuckled when Annabelle whimpered as she started to lose consciousness.

The last thing Annabelle Grace heard before she passed out from lack of oxygen was,

"Thanks to you, Annabelle, I now know how I'll get them all back."

**Safe House- 1 Hour later**

Nearly an hour after he had broken down in the library, Hotch finally said, "Thanks for sitting with me." Beside him, Garcia smiled. "It's no problem, sir. "

"No-no formalities anymore, Penelope. You don't need to call me that anymore." Something about her calling him 'sir' didn't feel right anymore.

"Sorry, it's a habit of mine. " Garcia stood up and brushed down her crumpled shirt, "I'm going to check with Agent Anderson and Agent Douglas to see if they found anything."

"Before you go, I have to say- thank you." _Thank you_ couldn't describe what he felt - she had given up everything and gone above and beyond what he had ever thought what she could do. "I'm incredibly thankful for you taking care of my son and fighting every day to bring us home. My behavior before was irrational and horrible. I owe you everything for this."

"Hotch, you are family to me. I know that you would have done the same for me," Garcia replied, "I'll be downstairs if you need me." She walked out of the library before she crashed into Morgan in the hallway. Without the wheelchair, Morgan seemed feeble as he stood with his legs shaking.

"Hey-Baby Girl," Morgan said, leaning against the wall for support, "How is he?"

"He's alright. He just needed time alone."

Morgan nodded before placing his hand on Garcia's arm. "Penelope, I'm so sorry for how I behaved to you. I just- I have no excuse for my behavior, which I will make up to you, even if that means treating you like a queen for the rest of my life."

"Derek, I know that you were upset and….that you love me," Garcia answered, remembering the banter between them from the year before. It had worked, Morgan's upset expression turned into a grin.

"I do love you and I missed-"Morgan stopped at the sound of screaming coming from outside the house. Unconsciously, he stepped in front of Garcia while the rest of the team, Will, and the children gathered on the stairwell. Garcia quickly stepped around Morgan and ran over to Anderson, who was scanning outside through the window.

"What was that?" She exclaimed. Anderson pulled her down onto the floor and pulled out his service weapon. She suddenly heard a loud crackle followed by more screaming.

Then she smelled it.

"Is there a fire?" She whispered to Anderson before he quickly covered her mouth. He then pulled his hand back and whispered, "Someone or something is starting fires at different points in the woods. We didn't catch the pattern until now-"

"What pattern?"

"Whoever this is has set them at points around the west, east, and north side of this building," Anderson pointed towards the southern part of the house, "Behind us is a field and woods. This has got to be planned and it's got to be Colmanshire." He let out a curse at the situation; the team had to get out of the house because of the fires, but if Colmanshire _did_ set the trap, he could instantly recapture the team in the field or the woods. "The son of a bitch is finally making his move."


	23. Chapter 23

"So what do we do?" Garcia exclaimed. Anderson closed his eyes and exclaimed, "Just let me think! Just give me a second!" While the agent started to formulate a plan, Garcia looked to her worried teammates, all watching anxiously from the stairs. She was surprised that none of them had come over to help.

_Was it because of what Anderson had told them or….because of their kidnapping? _She thought. If it were a year ago, the team would have come over and put their input in, especially Morgan and Hotch. Her lip trembled upwards at the thought, but she quickly returned back to reality.

"We have to run for it, Penn," Anderson suddenly called out. He reopened his eyes and stood up. "He won't shoot any of you-"

"What about the children and Will?"

"I don't know!" Anderson exclaimed, but quickly lowered his voice, "They're fair game dead or alive! If Colmanshire's men take them, Agent Jareau and Hotchner will go after them, which will eventually lead to you getting caught!"

"Oh God, oh God, Oh God," Garcia started repeating frantically, pacing back and forth in a circle. At the front door, Douglas suddenly appeared, sparking Anderson to immediately draw his weapon. Douglas didn't flinch, he only stated, "It's me," before adding, "Time's a-ticking, guys. We need to go now!"

"Oh, ok. Um, here's what we do!" Garcia exclaimed. She frantically walked towards the stairwell, "Everyone gets an agent and we just go-"

"Garcia-"

"Let me finish! We need to go- everyone gets their own person agent as a bodyguard. We can take one or two guys if there are twenty of us instead of ten."

Douglas said, "It's like you were thinking ahead of me, but there is a team of agents and officers a quarter mile from here. We make it there, we should be safe."

The team numbly nodded in response. Their reaction had Garcia focus on them and plead, "I know that you all are scared, but please! Function at some sort of capacity right now!"

"We're ok, Baby Girl," Morgan said, "just tell us what we need to do."

Behind her, Anderson pulled a gym bag from underneath the dining room table. Inside were Kevlar vests and pistols. When he started dumping the contents onto the table, Garcia raised an eyebrow at him. He responded by shrugging his shoulders and stating, "I had an inkling that this would happen. Here," Anderson handed each team member and Will a pistol and vest, "Use these the best that you can- your bodyguard will do most of the fighting." A small smile appeared on his face as Rossi loaded his pistol and muttered, "It feels good be packing again."

Hotch slipped on his vest and kneeled next to his nervous son. Jack kept his arms close to his body as he cried, "Daddy, what's going on? Where we going? Did he just say there was a fire?"

"Jack, you have to listen to me," Hotch told him calmly, "The bad guys that took me and the rest of the team is trying to hurt us again. We have to run and find somewhere safe to go." Jack whimpered and Hotch tried to touch his son to comfort him, but Jack backed away. "Daddy, do you hate me?" he asked.

Hotch sighed and pulled his hesitant son close to him. "I don't hate you, buddy- I could never hate you. I'm sorry that I've been mean lately - it won't happen again."

"Unless I do something bad?"

"Yes. Right now, I need you to be brave when we go, alright?"

"I'll be brave just like you and all my aunts and uncles were when you went away," Jack said, sparking a smile on his father's face.

At the bottom of the stairs, Douglas, who had been on the phone, directed, "We have to go now! Police and FBI from half the damn Atlantic will be there to help us. Ready?"

Garcia took one glance at her team and said, "We're ready."

The moment Garcia stepped outside, she could smell the burning trees coming from the woods. They all stood at the back door of the house in groups: Garcia and Anderson were in front, Rossi and a young agent stood behind them followed by Hotch and Jack with their security agent, JJ, Henry, and Will with one security agent, Prentiss and Reid with their security agent, and Morgan with Douglas and two security personal, mainly to help Morgan walk or run, if necessary.

Garcia slowly stepped out into the field, only hearing the crunch of leaves beneath her shoes. She lifted her foot to take another step when the sound of a bullet erupted through the air. The security agent for Prentiss and Reid fell to the ground, blood rushing from a bullet hole in his neck.

"Go!" Anderson yelled before everyone took off towards the woods. Garcia sprinted hard, surprising even Anderson; never would he have imagined a year ago that it would be hard to keep up with Penelope Garcia. Everything around her became a dull noise; all she focused on was getting past the first set of trees…..

After two minutes, Garcia and Anderson sprinted past the first set of trees, both out of breath. They turned around to see Hotch, Jack, and their agent came across first soon followed by JJ, Will, Henry, and their agent. Henry and Jack stayed close to their parents. Both JJ and Hotch quickly pulled out their weapons and asked simultaneously, "Garcia, are you ok?"

"Yeah, where's everyone else?"

JJ whipped her head around. "I don't know! We left second to last!" Behind her, Henry began crying at his mother's outburst. "Agent Anderson, where are they?"

Anderson called out on his mic, "Status update!" He then put a hand on his earpiece, listening to the responses. Anderson then looked up at Garcia, JJ, and Hotch. " Everyone responded back- Agent Prentiss and Reid must have taken the dead agent's earpiece because they answered back as well. We need to keep going-"

"No! We can't just leave the rest of my team!" Garcia exclaimed.

"Everyone is ok, Penelope. The fire is moving fast- we can't just stand here. There's a clearing-"

"No!"

Hotch pulled Garcia aside and told her calmly, "He's right. We know for now that everyone else is safe. If we stay here, we could die-"

"I can't just leave them-"

He grabbed her shoulders and stared into her eyes. "Think like an agent, Garcia. You've functioned as an agent for a year- don't falter right now! We need you to be how you are right now, so focus!"

"Ok, Ok," Garcia nodded nervously and said, "Alright, let's go."

It was times like these that she wished that she was brave enough to carry a weapon.

In the woods, Garcia nervously with her nails digging into her closed hands as she followed Anderson, who was leading the group. Deep down, she felt weak for not having the ability to really protect herself. JJ and Hotch were in no shape to fight, Will could fight, but if his son and wife were hurt, he'd back down. Anderson was only one man, leaving her with no weapons to fight back.

As they walked, Garcia's eyes fell on the backup weapon holstered on Anderson's ankle. It somehow looked appealing to her now, any other day she would have looked the other way. She couldn't use it since she was afraid of guns…..right?

"I think I see something," Anderson muttered. About ten yeards away from them was a small clearing where sunlight was shining through. Anderson walked towards the clearing and stuck his out into the bright, cool air. He then let out a sigh of relief and exclaimed, "We made it!"

With the rest of the members of the group, Garcia walked to the clearing where she could see a barricade of police and FBI agents. She waved her hand towards them and yelled, "We're here!"

Three agents who had been talking amongst themselves in front of a federal SUV suddenly looked up towards her. The tallest of the three agents ran up to the group and held out his hand. "I'm glad to see that you all made it."

"Thank you-where's the rest of my team?" Garcia responded before Anderson or Hotch could say anything.

"Agent Reid and Prentiss came through first and are now resting in one of our SUVs, Agent Rossi should be coming out-"the agent spotted Rossi stepping out with his protection agent, "-right now."

Hotch stepped in front of Garcia and asked, "What about Agent Morgan? He was with Agent Douglas and two protective agents."

The agent frowned and said quietly, "We haven't heard or seen them, sir." Hotch turned back to the woods and dialed Morgan's cell phone. After getting his voicemail, Hotch redialed, getting Morgan's voicemail again. As he kept trying to contact him, Garcia stood next to him, frozen with fear. _Come on Derek! Where are you?_


	24. Chapter 24

Hotch dialed Morgan's cell one last time. Garcia watched impatiently, fighting every urge to rip the phone out his hand or run into the woods to search for Morgan herself. She opened her mouth to suggest an idea, but stopped herself at the Unit Chief's sudden change of demeanor. Hotch had suddenly froze, his eyes quickly filling with fear. Garcia stepped closer to him and called out, "Hotch?"

It took nearly a minute before Hotch responded by lowering the phone and putting it on speaker. Suddenly, a loud crackling laugh filled the air through the speaker, a voice that also put JJ in shock.

"I know you can hear me, Aaron," the voice said. Garcia didn't need anyone to tell her who the voice was- it was the cynical, arrogant voice of Michael Colmanshire.

"Is everyone there? I'd like a group meeting if you don't mind," Colmanshire said. Garcia took the phone from Hotch's hand and yelled, "What have you done, you bastard?"

"Ah, Miss Penelope. It's a pleasure for us to finally talk. How is _my_ little technical analyst doing?"

"Go to hell," Garcia snarled into the phone. It was uncharacteristic of her to talk like this, but thanks to Colmanshire's actions, things changed.

"Oooh, so testy-"

"Where's Agent Morgan?"

Colmanshire paused. "That's the beauty of technology, Penelope. I can talk with you while currently dragging your unconscious, ragged Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan." Next to her, Anderson gave a signal to a group of agents to storm the forest. On the phone, Colmanshire laughed when he heard only silence.

"I can only assume that the FBI is beginning to look for us in the woods, but sad to say, you won't find us. The damage done from the fires and a few surprises that a few friends and I left will slow them down. I took down a team of the Bureau's best- what makes you think you'll catch us?" Colmanshire continued, "Derek will be returned to where he belongs- here with me. I can only assume that you, Aaron, Dave, Jennifer, Spencer, and Emily won't be far behind."

Garcia swallowed hard, fearing the answer to her next question. "The agents that were with Derek…you killed them, didn't you?"

"Every agent that stayed near that house is dead. Also, the runt agents and SSA Cooper Douglas are also dead. I know he was _such_ a support system, but…you know, collateral damage."

Garcia wiped away her tears and said in a wavering voice, "How could you?"

"A man has to do what he has to do to get back what's rightfully his. Here's the deal, Penelope: I'm tired of the taunts and finding poor fools to die because you won't surrender to me. It's getting boring, isn't it?" Colmanshire sneered.

By now, Rossi, Prentiss, and Reid had joined the group. All had looked ragged and exhausted, but when they heard Colmanshire's voice, they froze like their fellow teammates. "I'm sick of the games, too," Garcia said, "What will it take to get Morgan back?"

"Easy. I want all of you- you all belong to me anyway so I see it as a fair trade. If you don't all surrender to me, I will kill many many more people including the little tykes of Jennifer and Aaron. I'll also torture SSA Morgan until he hates everything about his precious Baby Girl." Will pulled the children away from the group as Garcia screamed, "Leave Derek and the children alone!"

"Fair game, sweetie. You have twenty four hours to respond by telling the world of my _phenomenal_ work of taking down some of the nation's best and that you all will dutifully surrender to me. From there, I'll tell you how to come to me and don't worry- I will welcome you all with open arms…..and maybe a few toys while I'm at it. In the meantime, I'll have a little fun with SSA Morgan."

And on that note, Colmanshire hung up.

Garcia turned off the phone and looked to her shaken teammates. She didn't know Hotch could ever look so frighten in his life. Next to him, JJ broke down into tears. Rossi and Prentiss were both quietly staring at the ground as Reid started nervously taping his foot. At the sight of the team, Anderson whispered to Garcia, "A private word."

He pulled her out of earshot range of the group and said, "Penelope…."

"He's dead…..Douglas- I mean he can't be, right? Was Colmanshire just screwing with us-" Garcia cried out. Anderson placed both hands on Garcia's shoulders. "There are techs and men out there looking, but it's most likely that Douglas is dead."

"I lost another person," Garcia cried, "I don't know if I can-"

Anderson suddenly changed his tone and exclaimed, "Stop it! Don't revert back to old habits, Penelope! You know what to do to catch this asshole so do it! Douglas died so damn proud of you- don't make all of his work-our work- for nothing. " Garcia weakly nodded and wiped her face.

"Think like an agent!" Anderson continued, "What do we do next?"

Garcia stammered, "I don't-I don't know-"

"No, you know what to do! Save your family Penelope!" He gave her a little shake to get her moving, "What. Now?"

Garcia glanced again to her teammates before realizing- if anyone was going to end this, it would have to be her.

"Alright, we need to check the safe house, get everyone back to the FBI Quantico Office for protection, get investigators to figure out how the fire was controlled and set, and look for any trace of how Colmanshire could have taken Derek without a heard of agents catching him. He said that he had friends with him- chances are that they were also the shooter and the loony pyromaniac." Garcia let out her frustrations in a sigh and continued," We will do his news-press-look at me-conference thingy, but the team will do it and will talk about how much of a monster he was. He wants the attention, let's give it to him. That will also show to Colmanshire that the team is strong and that he doesn't have power over them." _At least I don't think he does. _

Anderson crossed his arms. "What about Agent Morgan?"

Garcia weakly smiled at his question. "You know when we were searching the woods to find the team, Douglas told me that I was the lead on the case. Me- little old me…..I've never led anything of this nature in my life so I hope to hell I don't screw this up," Garcia took a breath and said, "Colmanshire won't kill Derek. He'll torture him since we won't completely comply to his demands, but he won't kill him. I hope Derek doesn't hate me for this."

"He won't. What about the team?"

"I'll talk to them. You go help with the search, ok?"

"Yes, captain," Anderson answered with a smile. He turned and headed towards a group of agents preparing themselves to go into the woods. Garcia walked over to her teammates and told them, "We need to have a talk in one of the SUVs-now."

Once all five agents and Garcia squeezed into an SUV, Garcia who was sitting in the passenger seat said, "I'm taking the lead in this case…regardless of my status in the Bureau. I need all of you to respect that, please."

"Of course, kid. Anything you need, we're on it," Rossi answered. Next to him, Reid nodded in agreement along with JJ.

"You go it, rock star," Prentiss answered with a weak smile. Hotch, who was sitting next to Prentiss, gave Garcia an approving nod. "We're behind you the entire way. What do you need us to do?"

"First, we will be setting up the press conference that Colmanshire wants, but we'll let the world know what a true monster he really is. You all will be participating in this press conference. " Garcia answered. JJ sat forward and asked, "What about Morgan?"

Garcia's eyes fell to the floor before she stated, " I know Colmanshire. I know him so well- he won't kill Derek until he gets all of us. This brings me to my second request- I need all of you to think like profilers again. I know we had push for you to realize that you're all victims, but right now that needs to be put in the past to save Derek. Be subjective- I need you all to pull yourselves out of the equation and treat Colmanshire like he's a regular unsub."

Five nods gave her the go-ahead to continue. "Lastly, I know that you all are afraid of Colmanshire, deathly afraid of him. Your behaviors when he had called proved it. I believe that to finally catch this man, I need to know everything that happened while you were all away by the end of tonight."

"That's a lot of information, Garcia," JJ stated, "There's no way we can do it in one night."

Garcia turned around in her seat and answered, "Well, you all can spark note it for me."


	25. Chapter 25

**BAU Office- Quantico, Virginia**

Garcia sprinted out of the elevators as soon as the doors opened on the floor of the BAU. She had hoped to get the team into the conference room and talking quickly while Anderson and the other techs were digging for evidence back in Danville. The TA expected to hear footsteps behind her, but didn't. Garcia turned around to see her five teammates slowly walk out of the elevator with confusion and sadness in their eyes.

"What's wrong?" Garcia called out. Rossi walked towards the bullpen and said, "Thought I'd never see this place again."

_God, this must be hard for them. I should have realized that ahead of time. _"Everything's pretty much the same," Garcia said. "Your offices are empty- I begged Strauss to leave them empty."

"You didn't have to do that, Penelope," JJ said, peeking her head into one of the conference room. Like the other agents, JJ felt as if she was a new kid at school, regardless of her seven years at the BAU. Garcia wanted to remind them of the time, but she stopped at the sight of Hotch. He was staring with Prentiss at their photos on the Wall of Fallen Agents.

"How did you…" Prentiss trailed off. She touched her photo and looked over to Garcia, "How did you come into work…and see this every day for a year?"

"If I knew," Garcia said, "I'd tell you. Come on, we need to get to work."

"What exactly do you want us to talk about?" Reid asked, taking a moment to glance over at his picture.

"Um….let's start with how you escaped." Garcia pointed towards the conference, "That'll definitely be a good place to start."

Once in the conference room, Garcia stood next to the whiteboard as the team sat around the table. She wrote _Escape_ on the whiteboard and turned to her team. "Anyone can go."

After exchanging looks with his teammates, Reid said, "I guess I can tell it. Garcia, I know that you've heard the beginning of the story in pieces. So after we had all woken up in the room, he-I mean Colmanshire took Hotch out without telling us what he was going to do with him. Within a few days or so, Colmanshire showed up and gave Prentiss Hotch's bloody shirt and then told us that…he was dead. From then on, Colmanshire's men would take one or two of us out of the room at a time and just…," Reid swallowed hard before continuing, " I still can't get JJ's screams out of my head." JJ squeezed his hand in support and brushed away a tear running down her face.

"Anyway," Reid continued, " It was Morgan and Emily's day…."

_**3 Months Ago**_

_Reid let out a cough and spat out blood onto the concrete floor. He lifted his head back to see Rossi staring at him quietly, no words needing to show his concern. The young genius had once again lost track of whether it was night or day; whenever light below the forever locked door would creep through the hinges, Reid could tell that it was night. He had developed that system whenever he was dragged out of the hallway to receive a beating, a name calling fest, or even just plain torture. On his first day- hours after they had lost Hotch- Reid had realized that there were no windows, but a light switch. After that, Reid took the light being on as night._

"_Da-ve," Reid called out to the oldest teammate. Rossi only gave a weak nod in response. He could barely speak due to his broken jaw. Apparently, Colmanshire had found the team's, especially Rossi's questions regarding the Unit Chief's "death" to be problematic, leading to Rossi's broken jaw. The pain was now a dull pain, only allowing him to say no more than a few words a day. _

_Lying on her side at the other corner of the room was JJ. The blonde was shivering, her jacket wrapped around her ankles for warmth. Her body ached as she laid there after being tortured, and raped, the day before. She closed her eyes to fall asleep, but couldn't when Reid repeated, "Da-ve!"_

"_No…Spence. You're too loud," JJ called out. She expected Reid to counter back, but only heard the sound of unlocking and the turn of the doorknob. JJ rolled over to see Morgan and Prentiss being thrown into the room. The door quickly shut close before it was locked again. _

_Morgan watched the door close before he dropped the keys on to the ground. Five shocked eyes fell on the keys, the dull metal shining as if it were gold._

"_Where did you get them?" JJ asked. _

_Morgan lifted his head and said, "We got the keys…from Hotch."_

"_Alive?" Rossi exclaimed. He then winced at the shooting pain in his jaw. Morgan pushed the keys towards the eldest agent. "He's alive. Hotch….was lying in the room where they," he looked at Prentiss, "did things and….we have to try and escape again! Here's what we-"_

**Present Day**

"Wait a minute," JJ said. Reid stopped mid-story and stared at JJ. " Emily and Derek weren't….chained up! Every time someone was taken out of the room and brought back, they were always chained back onto the wall," she said in awe, "How did we not catch that?"

"We were desperate and injured," Rossi stated, "Anyone would have missed it."

"Focus on right now, guys. It was a simple mistake," Garcia told them, "Go on, Reid."

**3 Months ago**

"_Here's what we do," Morgan said, " Someone steps out and sees if the coast is clear before we all make a run for it."_

"_Derek, we don't know where we are or if Colmanshire and his men even left the damn place!" JJ exclaimed. The African American agent dropped his shoulders and said, "JJ, I don't think we have a choice. We can't sit here and hope for the best anymore. I'm sorry, but we either die in here or die out there."_

"…_.Ok. You're right," JJ said, " We need to be unchained first and second, who steps outside?"_

"_I'll do it," Reid volunteered. Morgan slid the keys across the room towards him. He first unchained his ankles and then his wrists before pulling himself to his feet. Reid unchained the rest of his team mates one by one with his eyes focused on the door. _

_Once he was finished, the youngest agent limped over to the door. He unlocked and slowly pulled the door open before stepping out into the hallway. It was different stepping out into the hallway instead of being forcefully dragged. It was a nice change…._

_Reid quickly looked both ways before quietly walking down to the room he recognized to be the "torture room". He paused every few seconds, listening out for any signs of Colmanshire and his men. When Reid made it to the room, he dropped his shoulders in relief at the sight of Hotch._

_The Unit Chief was alone in the room, chained to the wall like his teammates. He looked just as terrible as the rest of the team, but was no doubt alive. Reid limped to his friend's side and unlocked the chain around the man's wrist and ankles. _

"_Whe-re…we?" Hotch stammered. Reid noted that Hotch was completely out of it, stuttering or omitting every few words that he spoke. _

"_You don't remember?" _

_No….." When Hotch's wrists were free, Reid helped him to his feet and asked, "How did you get the keys to Morgan?"_

"_I don't-I saw…trou-ble. The keys….. tabl-e-" Hotch's legs gave out and was caught by Reid. Reid put Hotch's arm over his shoulder for a walking assist and started walking with him towards the door. "Was there anyone here?"_

"_Alone…who-"_

"_It's ok, Hotch. Just come on." Slowly, they returned to the room where they found the remaining team members in twos: Rossi stood with JJ while Prentiss stood with Morgan, ready to help him walk the best she could. _

"_There's a door upstairs, I think," Reid said, "It didn't sound like there was anyone else here. Everybody ready?"_

"Yeah," _JJ and Rossi walked into the hallway. JJ took a second to turn around whisper back to her teammates, "Let's go." _

**Present Day**

"From then on, we just ran…or limped. We stopped every few hours," Reid said as he finished up the story, " and took time to rest. When Rossi had heard a car horn, we all decided that I would try to get help."

"Wow." Garcia looked at the whiteboard where only the word she hadn't written a word. Once Reid had started his story, she had completely forgotten about it. "I do have a quick question," Garcia asked. It was about the pile of clothes found in Manchester. " We found a pile of clothes that had been left-"

"My idea," Prentiss stated. Garcia smiled at her, "Thank you for that. If you guys hadn't done that, we would have never known to look in Manchester."

"You would have eventually got to it, kid," Rossi said. Next to him, JJ sighed in disbelief, "I can't believe he had let us go like that. I had really thought that we had escaped on our own."

"Don't worry about it- we'll catch him. Anyway," Garcia quickly changed the subject, "We need to do the press conference. All of you will be standing with me while…..Hotch delivers the speech."

"What?" Hotch looked up from his seat in complete shock. During Reid's story, he had become pale and incredibly quiet.

"You're the leader of this team, Hotch," Garcia stated, "It'll have more impact if you do it."

"I can't! I barely remember anything of what happened!" Hotch's voice cracked, " Penelope, I can't."

"Aaron, you can do it," Rossi assured, "Just be yourself."

"I can't- I'm not myself-"

Garcia "Nor am I- I'm nowhere near my old self. Please, Hotch, do it for the team-do it to get Morgan back. Please!"

Hotch grimaced before quietly saying, "Ok. I'll do it."

**Seven miles south of Danville, Virginia- 4 Hours later**

Michael Colmanshire considered himself to be a brilliant man.

He knew the silly little TA would crack if she lost Morgan. Colmanshire had watched her for six months and knew every little aspect of Miss Penelope Garcia: she was a scared woman trying to play fed. He was excited to finally meet her and teach her a lesson or two about making things hard for him. The two men he had lost because of her was collateral damage, but they had been good men nonetheless. The last two men he had were still good and would still be able to get the job done.

In his mind, his brilliant plan would go off flawlessly; the remaining team members would give the press conference highlighting his achievements and then would surrender to him, finally completing his puzzle. Colmanshire felt that he deserved to be recognized, not only just for his killings from the previous year, but also for taking down the FBI's best.

Now, the man sat on a ragged couch with a cold beer in his hand in an old warehouse. According to news reports he had heard within the last hour or so, the press conference was going to air on many local and national television stations. Colmanshire was ready; he had been waiting for this moment for months.

"And now to the front steps of the FBI building located in Quantico where Unit Chief Supervisory Special Agent Agent Aaron Hotchner will speak on behalf of his team…" blared from the television screen. Colmanshire placed down his beer, a little confused. He had expected Garcia to give the speech, not Hotch.

The television screen suddenly showed the team with Hotch behind a podium. All five agents and TA looked confident and professional, especially Hotch, who stood in crisp new suit with a serious expression on his face. Hotch took a breath and began to speak,

"Good evening. My name is Supervisory Special Agent Aaron Hotchner and I'm calling this press conference to speak in regards of the kidnapping of my team on July 27, 2010. One of our team members Supervisory Special Agent Derek Morgan was taken hours ago by our kidnapper, Michael Colmanshire. Through negotiations, Colmanshire had demanded that my entire team including technical analyst Penelope Garcia to surrender ourselves to him after highlighting his achievements in a press conference, which I will do so now."

Colmanshire leaned forward with a grin on his face. This was it….

"Michael Colmanshire is a coward-"

"WHAT?" Colmanshire threw the beer against the wall in anger. He kneeled in front of the television screen to hear the rest of the speech….

"This man used torture, name calling, and other forms of abuse to deal with seven individuals that he feels are threats to him. He also functions under the delusion of treating my team and me as if we were his objects, trophies as you may, that he must so urgently get back. This delusion intensified when his lack of focus during our kidnapping only took six of our seven man team.

This man is under the belief that he conquered a team of agents and destroyed them emotionally and physically. That belief is false- we are here alive, strong, and will fight for the rest of our lives against any trauma that he and the men that works with him had done against us. And to you, Michael, we have a message: although you have kidnapped Agent Morgan again, keep in mind that we will rescue Agent Morgan. You will be caught, Michael, and you will pay for what you have done to us. Thank you- no further questions." Hotch gave a nod towards the group of reporters before walking off the stairs with the team.

"Son of a bitch!" Colmanshire yelled. He pushed the television onto the floor and let out an angry scream. He didn't know what was worse; being made a fool on national television or one his objects- _his objects - _call him by his first names as if they were equals.

He marched towards a back room where Morgan sat in a corner, bound. Colmanshire took out a pocket knife and slashed Morgan across the face. The agent barely winced which angered Colmanshire even more.

"Aaaahhh! You want to play with me, agents? Huh?" Colmanshire yelled into an empty corner of the room. Morgan thought to himself, _He's losing it._

"Fine, we'll play," Colmanshire took out Morgan's cell phone and speed dialed Garcia, irate and ready to end this…..


	26. Chapter 26

After the press conference, Garcia didn't even have time to sit down before she heard Morgan's phone ring.

She was standing near the first floor conference room where techs were still examining evidence from the case. The press conference had been over for not even five minutes before she received the call. Because of Colmanshire's threats, Garcia had decided to keep Morgan's cell phone at all times. It was the only way she had contact with him.

"Oh God!" Garcia instantly recognized the caller ID and darted into the conference room. Thankfully, there was a tech with the ability to trace phone calls working diligently on Colmanshire's old phone calls. The tech looked up to hear, "Trace the call coming to Agent Morgan's phone!" from Garcia. She turned around to see her teammates standing near the FBI building entrance, all unaware of what was taking place.

"Aren't you going to call Agent Anderson? Your team?" the tech asked. Garcia muttered, "No," before closing the door and answering the phone.

"Miss Penelope…I was beginning to get worried that you weren't going to answer my call," Colmanshire said slyly. Garcia bit her cheek to keep herself from lashing out in frustration. She took a breath and calmly answered, "I'm here. We did exactly what you told us-"

"You liar!" Colmanshire screamed, "You made me look like an animal in front of the entire country!"

"We told reporters of your accomplishments! You never specified how-"

"You're going to pay for that! How would you feel if I blew out Derek's brains right now?"

"Don't." She knew that he wouldn't, but based on his tone, she didn't want to push her luck. "Now what?" she asked.

"You all come to me! I want no tricks this time or I will start sending Derek back to you all in pieces!" Garcia looked over to the trace tech, who gave her a thumbs up once Colmanshire's location.

Feeling a bit of relief, Garcia said,"Your rules-"

"You listen to me, you little bitch! Here are the new rules to this game: if you don't follow exactly what I tell you to do, Derek loses….I don't know, maybe a finger? Two? Or if you really push it….something far worse."

Garcia collapsed onto a chair. _Focus- be strong for Morgan! _" I understand."

"Good. Also, if you all show up here with cops, feds, a goddamn army- anyone- I will take all of us down…mark my words."

"I understand."

"Good. I assume that you're tracing this call. Meet me at my location in two hours or else."

He hung up at that note, leaving Garcia to nearly choke on his words. She slowly placed the phone onto the table before turning to the trace tech. The man peered at the computer screen and said, "It looks like he's just south of Danville."

Garcia numbly nodded before stepping out of the conference room. Hotch and JJ, who had been talking with Anderson near a front window, instantly noticed Garcia. JJ called out, "Garcia, what happened?"

"Um…Eh," was all the technical analyst could get out before turning on her heels and walking towards the building back door. Once outside, Garcia stepped onto the wet grass and vomited. She wiped her mouth and straightened up before she felt a hand on her back.

"Walk it off- no tears," she heard from behind her. It was Hotch.

He pointed back towards the building. "I told everyone to meet us in the bullpen. Let's take the stairs and you can tell me what happened."

"Ok," Garcia answered softly. Both started back towards the building. " Colmanshire called," she told him.

"I figured." Hotch opened the door for Garcia, "I take it he was upset about the press conference."

"Yes and then he threatened to chop Morgan into pieces if we didn't play exactly by his rules. I don't-," Garcia started rambling, " Hotch, I know that when Reid, Prentiss, Morgan, and even I got in trouble, you had like this amazing poker face and you were calm and collect-"

"You want to know how I do it," Hotch finished for her. He stepped off the stairwell and onto the floor of the BAU, "All I know is that in times of trouble, I have to be strong for this team. I know it makes me seem uncaring, but remember that I panic and worry as much as everyone else. You have to be that person for our team, Penelope. The rest of us-"

"You guys are afraid of him. I saw the way you answered the phone in Danville, Hotch. " Garcia watched the Unit Chief look down to his feet. He nodded and looked back up. "Yes, a little. I don't think any of us could step up to him without…..It comes with the territory with being a prisoner for a year, I guess."

"I'm sorry-"

"You have nothing to be sorry for, Penelope. You have done nothing wrong- absolutely nothing. No matter how this turns out, I am so proud of you."

"Thanks," Garcia looked down the hallway where she could see the insignia of the BAU. She said, "Alright, I'm good and focused. Let's go and figure this out and finally catch this bastard."

Once in the BAU conference room, Garcia replayed the phone call to the rest of the team and Anderson. Rossi kept an impassive look on his face, Reid kept looking between each member as if he was trying to catch their reactions, and JJ and Prentiss were listening intently, both holding their breaths. Garcia had to remind of herself multiple times to not worry of the team's reactions. _They're fearful of Colmanshire- remember that. This isn't a year ago- things have changed._

Rossi said once the phone call finished,"He states that he'll take us all down if we bring any outside help. It sounds like Colmashire thinks that this is his last stand. He'll probably try to bring the building down- in his eyes, he'll go down as martyr."

Hotch added, " He's probably has some kind of an explosive device wired throughout….where was it?"

Garcia looked to the sheet she had received from the trace tech. "A warehouse just south of Danville. It has two floors and takes up about half of a city block." She pulled up a satellite photo on the conference room computer screen.

Reid squinted at the screen. "It looks like an isolated area. If we bring SWAT or anyone else in, Colmanshire will notice."

"Wait a minute," Garcia said. "Guys, Colmanshire is a complete control freak. We need to-"

"Use that against him," Anderson stated. He was standing near the door, far from Garcia's team. With an angry look in his eyes, Anderson replied, "I think I know where you are going with this, Penelope. Every time things don't go according to plan, he trips up. Ninety nine percent of unsubs would have been perfectly content with holding six FBI agents hostage. However, the moment Colmanshire finds out about you, he decides to suddenly let the team go knowing that there's a high chance that he won't get them back. He also had ample times to take you down, but your fight most likely screwed with his head! In his eyes, you were supposed to be an easy take down, Penelope."

Anderson walked over to the computer screen and pointed to the empty lot across the street from the warehouse. "Give him a false sense of security- you know, play into what he's sees in all of you. I'd recommend not sending everyone in at the same time. So if you all trickle in like injured, hopeless people and hang on long enough for him to think that he's finally won, both Colmanshire and his men will drop their guards. From there, I can have SWAT and myself storm the building in less than a minute."

JJ suddenly sat up. "Hold on," she said, "When he said 'take us all down with him', he could also mean through a fire! It's symbolic- Colmanshire would feel more power that way. How would we account for that?"

"What if he doesn't try to blow or burn us up?" Garcia took a breath, ready to make the move she had been dreading since the moment Douglas had told her that she was in charge. "I just thought of something that's so dangerous and stupid, but with Colmanshire's arrogance and possible escalation and the fact that we won't kill us unless all of us are there to go down with him together, it just might work….."


	27. Chapter 27

Thirty minutes before the required time to meet Colmanshire, the team stood at the Danville police station, all suiting up. Hotch and Rossi both strapped on their Kevlar vests and holstered two weapons, one on the hip and one at the ankle. Reid was sitting on the hood of the SUV, carefully examining his .38 caliber revolver. JJ and Prentiss were already suited up, quietly talking amongst themselves about combat techniques and the details of Garcia's plan.

The technical analyst stood far from the group, slipping on her own Kevlar vest. Once she strapped it on, she paused, unsure of what to bring as a weapon. A tazer could do wonders, but would fail badly in a shootout.

"Safety off, point and shoot," Garcia suddenly heard from over her shoulder. It was Anderson, all suited up and holding out a handgun towards her. Garcia's eyes widened in shock as she exclaimed, "No, I can't!"

"You know what," Anderson placed the gun in Garcia's hand, "I am banning you from saying that word! I mean look at you, Penelope. You're suiting up to go into a possible gunfight, something I'm sure you couldn't have done a year ago." Anderson pressed the gun against her palm and added, "There is nothing that you can't do, ok?"

"Ok…thanks," Garcia answered quietly, taking the gun into her other hand. It felt heavier than she had ever expected it to be. However, something about it being in her hand made her less frightened about the situation. Garcia wanted maybe a few more minutes to examine the weapon, maybe even shoot it, but heard, "Hey, A team. A word before we head out!" from Anderson.

The team gathered around him, every member donning their nervousness on their faces. Anderson took account for that and said, "Alright, I know that this is pretty big for all of us. This monster destroyed your lives and with that, you all fear him. However, I need you all to know two things: first, it has been an honor working with you all on this. Secondly, when the time comes, you cannot…..and I mean _cannot_ kill Colmanshire. He'll pay, but not by any of your hands. Are we clear?"

Six nods was the only response he received. Anderson could see the truths behind their quiet nods that when the time came down to it, none of them were sure if they would be able to follow that order.

**Colmanshire's Warehouse**

Morgan let out a yelp as his body received a kick to the stomach. Colmanshire had spent the time waiting for the team taking his frustrations out on Morgan. The agent only patiently took the hits, praying that SWAT, police, or even an "army" of federal agents would suddenly storm in and finally end this misery. However after two hours, Morgan was beginning to get worried that either his injured team or no one would to his rescue at all.

"Six minutes, Derek," Colmanshire sneered, "The squad has six minutes before the deadline. After that, I get free reign to do whatever pops in my little mind to you." He pushed Morgan onto his back, "But if they come…you what to know what the first thing I'm going to do to Penelope is?"

Morgan responded in the form of spitting in Colmanshire's face. His captor punched him and then grabbed his shirt collar, ready to move onto worse forms of torture. Morgan was saved by the sound of one of Colmanshire's men yelling, "The team's here, boss!"

_So it begins, _Colmanshire thought, standing up and walking into the main room. With the possibility of Garcia calling in the cops or other feds, he had hired four additional men to help, bringing his group total to seven, including himself. He could see two of his men on the warehouse balcony with their weapons aimed at what could be assumed as a vehicle. The remaining four stood guard at the door.

The man straightened up with a grin on his face, expecting _his _weak, inferior group of agents to walk through the door. He could see it now- Spencer, Penelope and Jennifer would be easy to break, followed soon by the brunette, David, and soon-to-join the group, Derek. Aaron would either be hard to beat or would fall to pieces faster than anyone else….

The main door to the warehouse suddenly creaked open, snapping Colmanshire out of his thoughts. Hotch, JJ, Prentiss, Rossi, Reid, and Garcia quietly walked in just as he had expected. All of them looked weak, hesitant, and scared.

As they should be.

"Welcome, welcome!" Colmanshire called out with open arms, "It is about time we got the entire group back together, of course with Miss Garcia finally joining us." He saw Garcia drop her head in shame which only added to his cockiness, " And to think you all would have put a fight."

"Please le-let Morgan go," Reid stammered.

"Can't do that, Spencer. What I can do is have you all take off all that FBI gear- you won't need it anymore." He smiled when theagents responded by slowly slipping off their vests and placing it with their weapons on the ground. After, each of the four men surrounded the group with their weapons aimed.

"Seven of mine with the seven of you," Colmanshire stated, "Everyone in my group gets a new agent to play with. How nice….."

JJ and Prentiss looked away from Colmanshire at his comment, both huddled behind Rossi.

"Don't worry, ladies," Colmanshire said, " We'll be nice…..for now. Oh! Before I go any further, I have to officially meet….Miss Garcia."

At that instance, two of Colmanshire's men grabbed and pulled a kicking and crying Garcia towards Colmanshire. They dropped her at Colmanshire's feet where he laughed at the technical analyst's appearance.

"So you're the one that has been causing me so much trouble, huh," Colmanshire slapped her across the face. She fell in a heap and sniffled. Colmanshire pulled Garcia onto her knees and yelled, " Do you how much trouble I had to go through because of you?"

"No, I'm sorry-"

Colmanshire grabbed her hair and slammed her to the ground. He looked up to see the group emotionally in shambles… except for Hotch. The Unit Chief was standing with his head bowed and was muttering something incomprehensible.

"Aaron, something you want to share?" Colmanshire asked. Hotch had his palm near his mouth and looked up to Colmanshire. In a stammer, he said, "

"There's seven of you and two up…why is everyone surrounding us… why would you say things like that…"

"I guess when I had beat the living hell out of you, I may have been little too hard," Colmanshire snorted before turning back to Garcia. "Where were we?"

Morgan, who was on his knees behind Colmanshire, was panicking.

_They walked into a trap. I can't believe they walked into this trap! _He thought. Nothing was adding up- Garcia was weak and fragile like a year ago, the team looked like scared little children, and Hotch was babbling nonsense. _This can't be it- this seriously can't be- wait a minute. _

With his shoulders still hunched over, Morgan focused first focused on the four men surrounding his team. They were relaxed- over confident that the team would even think to fight back. Colmanshire hadn't even asked for a strip search- _Hotch always carries a backup. Always. He still has to have it!_

He turned his focus back to Hotch. _ He couldn't have reverted into traumatic brain injury nonsense babbling in that little of time! Wait- he keeps repeating six, two up, and center…_ As if on cue, Hotch turned slightly and Morgan finally saw a tiny microphone hidden under one of the Unit Chief's cuffs. _He's feeding information to someone outside!_

It finally hit him: they were screwing with Colmanshire until help came. But how long would it last?

The call of his name finally snapped Morgan out of his thoughts. Garcia was lying on the floor, panting, at Colmanshire's feet. She exchanged a look with him before saying, "Colmanshire, I have to tell you something."

Humoring her, Colmanshire bent down and asked, "What exactly is that?"

"You said that there were seven in you group. You sure about that?"

"What the-" At that moment a bullet whizzed through a window and instantly killed one of the four members of the floor. From there on, everything broke out into chaos.

Garcia lunged at Colmanshire's knees and knocked him into the ground. Hotch pulled out his back up weapon and fired at another one of Colmanshire's men, successfully killing him. The remaining team members grabbed a Kevlar vest and weapon before jumping behind whatever they could for shelter as the room turned into a firefight. After a minute, Anderson and four SWAT members stormed through the windows, quickly taking out the men on the balcony.

Up front, Garcia slammed her palm against Colmanshire's nose and broke it. In retaliation, he pushed her off and starting choking her. Garcia struggled for air and tried to kick off Colmanshire and failed. In the corner of her eye, she could see bullets being sprayed back and forth. At the sight of Reid falling on his back when a bullet slammed into his vest, Garcia snapped.

She kneed him and kicked him off. Garcia grabbed a pistol that laid unused on the ground. She grabbed it and pistol-whipped Colmanshire before he could hit her. She slammed her body back against him and landed on top of him, holding the gun against Colmanshire's temple.


	28. Chapter 28

"Shoot me- I dare you!" Colmanshire spat in Garcia's face. The analyst pressed the gun harder against his temple. Neither had even noticed that the gunfire had ceased.

"Do it!" Colmanshire repeated. Garcia only glared back, fighting every urge in her body to pull the trigger. This man had taken nearly everything away from her from the team to her identity. He killed innocent people on the streets as a part of his sick game. If she let him live, the monster wouldn't get the justice that he deserved…..

"Penelope, let it go!" she suddenly heard from behind her. It was Morgan, who was slowly limping towards her the best he could.

"Reid?" she called out without looking away from Colmanshire. _Please tell me that he's ok._

" He'll be ok," JJ called from Reid's side. The youngest agent was still lying on his back, gasping for air. The bullet had hit his vest and knocked the wind out of him. Colmanshire looked over to Reid and chuckled, "It should have killed him."

"Shut up!" Garcia yelled. She tightened her grip on his shirt, "You bastard!"

"Penelope." Garcia blinked and glanced to her left where Hotch was kneeling next to her. His hands were inches from hers. "It's not worth it. Trust me, even after I killed Foyet, the pain didn't go away. Please give me the gun."

"You should listen to him, Penny. Don't want you breaking a nail now, do we?" Colmanshire sneered, earning a, "Shut up!" from Hotch. Garcia looked between the Unit Chief and Colmanshire. _I can't let him go, Hotch_, she thought. She then flinched when Hotch's hands moved closer to hers.

"Penelope, listen to me. Don't kill him-"

"Yes, _Penelope!" _Colmanshire sneered, "Listen to the man who screamed out for his wife as we damn near beat him into a coma!" At that statement, Hotch changed his focus to Colmanshire. In the corner of his eye, Garcia could see the agent's hands were now wavering.

Colmanshire continued, "Listen to him…or you could try the rest of your _team. _They weren't any better-the whining from the old man and the runty kid, Derek trying to act like he's worth a damn and don't get me started about the crying from Jennifer and Emily-"

"Shut up," Garcia spat out in a whisper. He took the challenge, " Shoot me, you little bitch. Come on- I screwed you over! I own all of you- all of this!" Garcia leaned closer to him before suddenly tossing the gun across the floor. Colmanshire yelled out, " Just like I thought," before Garcia retaliated. She grabbed his head and slammed it against the floor hard before Hotch and Rossi pulled her away from him.

Anderson stepped in and started hand-cuffing Colmanshire. In the meantime, Garcia got a look at the now quiet warehouse. Every one of Colmanshire's men were lying dead throughout the warehouse. Her teammates looked exhausted, especially Reid still sitting on the ground trying to catch his breath. Hotch and Rossi pulled Garcia back to the warehouse door before letting her go.

Before anyone could say anything to her, Garcia pushed open the warehouse door and took in the cold fall air. She walked a few yards towards the SUV before stopping and placing her hands on her knees. Garcia let out two shaky breaths before she began to sob. As if on cue, a year and a half's worth's of emotions suddenly caught up to her in that instant.

_It's over. _Garcia sat down on the ground and dropped her head in her hands as she sobbed. The team was safe and Colmanshire was caught…..the case was closed, right?

_Don't be naïve- that's the old you, _Garcia thought. She knew that this was far from over- there would still be hearings and countless testimonies to get justice against Colmanshire, dealing with the psychological and physical damage of not only the team, but also herself, funerals, dealing with the press…..

All of it made her head spin.

She was brought back to reality when she saw Anderson escort Colmanshire to a police car. With a toothy grin, Colmanshire looked to Garcia and said, "This isn't over. I'll be seeing you very soon…"

Garcia closed her eyes and thought, _Crap. What's that supposed to mean? _

**Holiday Inn- Danville, VA**

Hours later, Garcia laid under her warm sheets in her hotel room. Once the news media had caught wind of Colmanshire's arrest, dozens of news vehicles were sent down to Danville, all wanting interviews with each member of the team. As a result, the team was staying in a hotel to avoid the press.

Garcia turned on her side, the noise from a television in the hallway bugging her. Reporters seemed more interested on how Colmanshire was caught than the problems plaguing her- mainly, the aftermath.

"Move over." Garcia turned her head to see Morgan slowly sliding into her bed. She chuckled and said, "I didn't even hear you come into the room."

"Well, your head was in the clouds, Penelope." He wrapped an arm around her and sighed, "Thanks for saving me."

"No problem….love." Garcia shared a glance with Morgan before both broke out into laughter. She turned on her side to face Morgan. "Sorry, it's been awhile."

"I know- I can't imagine what it was like for you," Morgan said.

"It was bad….pretty bad, but on the bright side, everyone's home, safe and sound."

"Yeah…you alright?" Morgan brushed away a hair from Garcia's cheek. She slowly nodded and said, "I'm alright, Derek, don't worry about me. Let's just get some sleep, ok?"

Morgan paused before he answered, "Alright." The agent turned onto his back before drifting off to sleep within minutes. Garcia watched him sleep peacefully for a few minutes before turning away from him. With her mind racing, Garcia then laid quietly in the bed for hours until she could sunlight peeking through the windows. Irritated at the lack of sleep, Garcia slid from under the covers and headed towards the hotel living room.

Garcia found Anderson speaking with the hotel manager in the living room. He looked just as tired a she did, sporting dark circles around his eyes. It took him a minute to realize that Garcia was there before he ended the conversation with the manager and approached her.

"Morning," Garcia said softly. Anderson smiled and asked, "You didn't get any sleep, I take it?"

"No. You?"

"Nope." Both sat down on one of the couches. Anderson let out a sigh before asking, "How's the team?"

"Well, I shared a bed with Morgan," Garcia said, " He slept through the night. I'm not sure…about everyone else-" She paused and took a breath. Anderson sat up once he noticed that she was pale.

"Penelope, what's wrong?"

"I could have killed him," she whispered. Anderson scooted next to her, "Colmanshire?"

"Yes- if Hotch hadn't said anything….I think I would have pulled the trigger." Anderson wrapped an arm around her and said, " Well, that's anger, Penn. That bastard ruined so many lives and deserves some kind of punishment for what he did. Don't forget that you had enough self-control to step down."

"Yeah." Garcia looked up to Douglas, "I'm so scared for what happens next. I mean- there are so many things that need to be done. The team, Douglas' burial, Colmanshire-"

"Slow down there, tiger. We'll take it one day at a time."

Garcia nodded before saying, "There's one thing that's bugging me."

"What's that?"

"Colmanshire said that this wasn't over and that he'll be seeing me soon."

"He's just screwing with you-"

Garcia sat up and exclaimed, "What if he's not?"

Anderson leaned towards her and lowered his voice. Although it was early in the morning, there were still two other hotel guests the living room, not including the manager. "Serial killers taunt their victims all the time, Penelope. It doesn't necessarily mean anything."

"I know- it's just Colmanshire was always twelve steps ahead of us. I just want to make sure that this is for-sure done. No extra men, no extra surprises, no extra nothing."

Anderson paused and looked to his feet. A part of him felt like she was obsessing, but the other part felt like she was possibly onto something. "Alright, we'll look into it. We can start this afternoon-"

"This stays between us."

"What?"

"This," Garcia glanced over her shoulder, " This stays between us. I don't want the team worrying about this. Deal?"

_I don't like the sound of that, but…._Anderson reluctantly nodded. "Deal."


	29. Chapter 29

Hours later in a conference room, Garcia and Anderson stared at the piles of evidence on the conference room table. Everything from the letters that had found by Agent Hannah's body to the clothes left by the tree in Manchester was sorted into piles that covered the table. Garcia dropped her shoulders and let out a, "Oh boy."

"Oh boy is right," Anderson said, "Where do you want to start?"

"I don't-I don't even know. We should…..talk to Colmanshire…" Garcia trailed off before pointing to an evidence box that she didn't recognize. "What's that?"

"Items from the warehouse. There's only one thing that stands out." Anderson pulled the box closer to him and started digging through it. He suddenly pulled out a small evidence bag containing a white envelope and a key. The sight of it made Garcia smile for the first time in days.

"I knew that would spark some hope in you." Anderson placed the bag aside and pulled on his evidence gloves. "It's a key to storage unit."

Garcia raised an eyebrow and lifted the bag. "How do you know?"

"Well," Anderson pulled out the key, "The key is engraved with a rose and the initials WCC. I had a few guys look into it and it turns out that there's a storage company called Wayne's Chelmsford Crates." Anderson raised the key towards the light. "We ran the initials through the system and the place came up. It's about halfway between where your team disappeared and Manchester."

Garcia nodded and took the key from Anderson. "Let's go check it out then." She paused when Anderson gave her a reluctant look. "What?" she asked.

"Nothing." Garcia stepped closer to Anderson and repeated, "What?"

He placed his hands on the table and dropped his shoulders. With his head low, Anderson stated, "I don't think you should come."

"Why?" She didn't know what was more hurtful- the fact that he felt she couldn't handle herself or the fact that he waited until now to bring this up. Anderson saw the hurt in Garcia's eyes. "I'm sorry, but I think- I think this part can be done by the local authorities and other agents," he said.

"I can handle this-"

"I know that. I just think that you need some time to cope. You know, time to accept that the team is back and that Colmanshire is caught. When was the last time you've had a good night's rest?"

"July 27, 2010," Garcia swallowed and pointed to the key, "I want to do this. I will not feel like this is truly over until we know for sure. I'm going whether you like it or not." She placed the evidence bag in her purse. Anderson only stared at her, sadly.

"Hey," Garcia called out to him from the door, "Are you coming?"

_She's going to run herself into the ground if this doesn't end soon, _Anderson thought before answering, "Yeah."

**Chelmsford, Massachusetts- Wayne's Chelmsford Crates**

"Doesn't look like much," Garcia muttered as she followed Anderson and the owner of the storage facility down a large aisle. According to the owner, a man had bought out the unit that matched the key around the time the team had gone missing in 2010.

"You said that he paid in cash?" Anderson asked the owner as they turned into another aisle. The owner nodded. "Yep, he seemed a little out of the ordinary to me. Hell- half the fellas I rent or sell to are out of the ordinary." The owner stopped in front of a large black unit that stood at the west end of the facility. Anderson waved the man off before facing the unit.

The agent pulled out his handgun and glanced back towards Garcia. She was observing the unit carefully from where she stood in a daze. "Penelope, look alive," he called back to her, "You have the gun I gave you?"

"Yeah…." Garcia snapped out of her daze and pulled the handgun from her purse. "Never took it out."

"Well, you might actually get to shoot it," the agent muttered before placing a hand at the bottom of the door. "If you see anything dangerous, just shoot."

"Ok, I'm ready." Garcia steadied herself before Anderson pulled the unit door open.

What happened next felt like the longest thirty seconds of her life.

Anderson pulled the door open and froze, his eyes widening at what he saw. He screamed, "Run!" and turned on his heels. Garcia complied and ran a few meters away before she finally knew what had set Anderson off. At that moment, the unit exploded.

The blast threw them forward onto the ground. Both landed on their stomachs, Garcia slamming her head onto the pavement as well. Behind them, flames engulfed the unit in a fireball. Anderson looked back and screamed, "Son of a bitch!"

"He tried to blow us up," Garcia gasped, "He left the key on purpose to set us up…"

Anderson pushed himself onto his feet and turned to the fire. He kicked a nearby rock and repeated, "Son of a bitch!"

On the ground, Garcia held her bloody hands in front of her face. Her vision was blurry, but she could still see the outline of her hands.

"That arrogant bastard!" Anderson yelled. He holstered his weapon and muttered, "He's not done. Just when we thought that we had him…aaahhhh!" The sound of sirens suddenly filled his ears as police cars sped by the facility.

"We need to talk to him," Garcia said. Weakly, she turned onto her side. Anderson sighed and said, "No….I'll talk to him. You're going back to the hotel."

"What? Why?"

"Because you need to slow down, Penelope!" Anderson kneeled next to her, " I'm scared that you're going to crash if you keep going like this! In the last two months alone, you've been working non-stop, survived being ejected from a vehicle, and right now, survived an explosion with a possible concussion."

Anderson pulled Garcia onto her knees and continued, " When we get back to the hotel, I want you to give me 24 hours on stand- down. Nothing and I mean nothing on this case. Be with your family, rest your body and your mind- I will handle this right now. Please."

_Why can't I say yes already? Why is it that I feel like I don't want to stop? _" I don't know if I can."

"Take a break for 24 hours. That's all I'm asking."

Although Garcia didn't want to stop, the dizziness, nausea, and ringing in her ears made her say, "Ok."


	30. Chapter 30

**A/N: Sorry for the delay! It's finals time…**

**Holidae Inn- Danville, Virginia- Two Hours later**

"What the hell?" Morgan exclaimed at the sight of Garcia and Anderson. Garcia limped into the doorway, sporting cloths wrapped around her palms. Behind her, Anderson placed a large evidence bag onto one of the couches.

"Baby girl, what happened?" He saw that she was shaking and pale. Garcia sat down on a couch and sighed, "It's, um, nothing- I'm fine, Derek."

"No, you aren't!" Morgan stopped when he heard Hotch call down from the top of the stairs, "What happened?"

"I don't know- Penelope, I thought you guys were out looking for more evidence?" Morgan asked. Mid shiver, Garcia sent Anderson a dark glare. The agent nodded his head and sighed, " I'm sorry, Penelope. I told the agents to say we were working on evidence in case your team asked."

Silent, Garcia turned her attention back to Morgan and Hotch, who now stood with the group. "Those are blast injuries," Hotch noted of the TA's scars, "What were you two doing? You weren't at the police station, were you?"

_I'm getting cornered! _Garcia thought before looking back to Anderson for support. The agent put his hands up in defense. "I can't help you here, Penelope. I'm going to head to the police station-"

Hotch's suspicious glare made Anderson pause before he added, "The _actual_ Danville police station and work….on a few things. I'll be back soon." Once Anderson had taken the evidence bag and left, Hotch and Morgan stood both with arms cross, expecting an answer.

"Now that he's gone, you planning on telling us what's going on?" Morgan asked. Garcia mumbled, "I can't. Derek, just….please let it go."

Morgan took one of her hands. "You don't have to take on the world by yourself anymore, baby girl. Talk to me."

Hotch suddenly tensed up. "This…this isn't over between Colmanshire and us, is it?"

_Damn, I hate profilers! Wait, I'm one too…._"Guys, please," Garcia whispered, "You guys should be resting and not worrying about what's going on. Just- I got it, alright?"

Both men exchanged looks before grunting, "Fine," neither one believing a word of what she said.

**Danville Police Station**

"Is he in there?" Anderson asked an officer that stood guard in front of one of the interrogation rooms. After the explosion, Anderson had ordered Colmanshire be brought in for questioning immediately.

"Yep. He's sitting in there with a smug expression on his face," the officer answered, "Arrogant son of a bitch."

"Thanks. I'll take it from here." Anderson stepped into the interrogation to face Colmanshire. The man was sitting in an orange jumpsuit with his hands chained over the desk. Under the bruises from Garcia's punches to Colmanshire's face was a smirk.

"Agent Anderson. So nice of you to visit. I kind of prefer the jail setting, but this will do," Colmanshire taunted. He took note of a cut on the agent's cheek. "I guess you found one of my surprises."

Anderson snapped, "Where did you get the explosives?"

"Easy tiger," Colmanshire shifted his position the best he could to face the door, "I can have my lawyer here in five-"

"You have a lawyer?" Anderson exclaimed. _Who the hell would represent this monster?_

"Of course I do. It's part of my constitutional right-"

His comment put Anderson over the edge. He slammed his hands down on the table and roared, "Constitutional right? You killed at least three people, kidnapped and tortured six federal agents, killed a federal agent who was a great mentor for me and don't even let me get started on what you did to Penelope!"

Colmanshire shrugged. "Little things….all within my right to do so."

Anderson kicked one of the chairs across the room and then grabbed Colmanshire by the collar. "I am really sick and tired of all the crap you keep spurring about that team being _yours. _You can't own people like their objects!"

"You seem to care so much about a group of individuals who probably didn't know that you existed." Colmanshire retorted before feigning a pity look. "You aren't friends with any of them _yet_ you defend them like you were all family…pathetic."

_He's right. _Anderson had worked at the BAU for years but barely received any interactions with the A team. Regardless of what he did for Garcia, Anderson was sure that he fully hadn't gained the respect that he deserved from the A team. _I'd be surprised if any of them knew anything about _me, he thought. Realizing that he had been in his thoughts for a while, Anderson knew that he had to change the topic or Colmanshire would continue to screw with his head.

Anderson released Colmanshire's collar. "The bomb that nearly blew Penelope and me to pieces. Was that it?"

"Where's the TA?" Colmanshire asked. Anderson gripped the file tighter and growled, "Forget about her."

"That's the whole fun of this…what happened to Penelope is so _strong and brave? _ Seems a little hypocritical since she's not here…."

"Is that the last goddamn thing you have planned for us?"

Colmanshire leaned forward in his chair to where he was inches from Anderson's face. "You may not have noticed Agent Anderson, but I'm a very smart man. I'm not going to give away the big finale."

"And what exactly is that?"

Colmanshire gave a thoughtful expression which made Anderson want to strangle him. "Oh, I know!" Colmanshire said in a mocking tone, "I did plan another set of….let's call them a grand finale of fireworks of sorts for this team. However, for me to give it you, you need to give me something."

_I have a feeling that I'm not going to like this. _"What exactly would that be?"

"I want twenty minutes alone with the team to…you know, remind them of the lessons they've learned this past year. No chains on me, no guard police- nothing . Twenty minutes- really a 3 minute chat with each. If you don't agree to this, I promise you, Agent Anderson, that many people will die."


	31. Chapter 31

Back at the hotel, Garcia sat on her bed with a leg dangling off the side. A few hours had passed since she had returned with Anderson from Massachusetts . Morgan and Hotch kept a close eye on her, making sure that she ate, changed, and had been checked out by paramedics. The rest of her teammates- JJ, Prentiss, and Rossi- did their share of checking in on Garcia by knocking on her door to say hello once every 30 minutes.

She didn't blame them; a year ago, she would be overly protective and constantly checking in on her teammates. However, the constant checkups were becoming a nuisance to her. All Garcia wanted was some time to try and think- time to think about her next steps.

And Colmanshire.

Twenty four hours was a long time to go without thinking about the man who consumed her life for over a year. Garcia wanted nothing more than to be at the Danville Police Station interviewing Colmanshire with Anderson.

_I can't believe I agreed to this, _Garcia thought. She scooted forward, ready to turn on the television, but stopped when her cell phone went off from the nightstand. She answered it quickly.

"Penelope?" It was Anderson.

"Did something happen? I know that I promised to be on standby-"

"I need you and your team at the police station ASAP. Colmanshire threatened mass casualties. However, he's willing to hand information over for twenty minutes alone with you guys." There was a pause on Anderson's end of the line, causing Garcia to worry about there being something more.

Garcia slid off the bed and opened her room door. "Anderson, why- what's wrong?" she asked.

" I don't want any unresolved feelings from your team members to flare up while talking to this monster. Do you think they'll be able to handle this?"

Garcia looked down the hall to where she could see JJ and Reid playing cards. Both seemed more relaxed and happier than they had looked before. The technical analyst hesitated before answering, "They should be able to handle it. We'll be there in twenty minutes." She hung up and started down the hall towards JJ and Reid.

"Hey guys," Garcia called out to them, "We need to do something that you aren't going to like. Where's everyone else?"

JJ turned in her seat, placing the stack of cards on the table. "Wait- What do you mean?"

" I just- where's everyone?"

"I'll get them," Reid volunteered. The young agent walked over to the balcony and called down for Prentiss, Hotch, and Rossi. In the meanwhile, Morgan was called from his room, where he had been dozing on and off.

Once everyone had gathered and sat down, Garcia said in a shaky voice, "Colmanshire wants twenty minutes to talk with us in exchange for information about a last possible attack. He threatened mass causalities and…..we have to do this guys!"

Morgan immediately protested, "No, we can't!"

"There has to be a catch to this," Hotch added. Prentiss nodded in agreement while JJ and Reid simply stated, "No."

Garcia dropped her shoulders and focused forward. " We can and we have to do this! Colmanshire loves attention and wants to go out with fireworks and explosions and stuff! The bomb at the storage unit-"

"That's what you and Anderson were doing?" Rossi exclaimed, "Checking out bombs?"

"Yeah, but listen-"

"The last time each of us went against Colmanshire, it didn't end well," Reid said. He looked sadly at Garcia and added, "You almost shot him in the head."

"True-" She grimaced at the memory. Around her, her team mates were panicking, their chatter echoing throughout the room. For Garcia, it was getting so loud and chaotic that she exclaimed out of nowhere, "Stop!"

The rest of the team froze. Garcia sighed, deciding a different approach. "We're doing this. I know we've all been through hell because of him, but hiding at the hotel is useless! Yes, there might be a catch, but it's something. We can and will end this," Garcia stated, "Let's be that team again. Let's be the badasses that we once were. Sound good?"

Morgan smiled at her comment, saying, "Sounds good, mama."

**Danville Police Station**

"Here's what Colmanshire has agreed to," Anderson told the team once they arrived at the police station, " basically 3 minutes with each of you. What I'm thinking, though, is to make it separate. He may think that you all will come marching in as one, which he'll play off of."

Rossi peered into the interrogation room window. "He's cocky…as always. Seriously, how do we know if this guy is bluffing or not?"

Anderson held up an evidence bag from the storage unit. "Bastard's never flaked on us before. This has to be real- all you have to do is put up with his crap for 3 minutes. Who'll go first?"

Inside the room, Colmanshire was rocking slightly back and forth in his chair. A nervous excitement was surging through him as he waited to speak with the team again. Although he knew that this would most likely be their last meeting, Colmanshire was still excited; three minutes was more than enough to instill fear.

The interrogation room door slowly creaked open, revealing Rossi to Colmanshire. The unsub laughed in delight and said, "SSA Rossi…..I can see why you would want to go first. I mean when there was no Aaron taking the team's punches, you stepped in as the leader."

Rossi's only response was to place a stop clock on the table. The agent sat down with crossed arms and stated, "Your three minutes starts now."

"I see. So tell me….what's your plans for the future?"

Rossi leaned forward, his expression darkening. "You don't have the right to know."

"I do, David. You…belong…to..me." Colmanshire suddenly grabbed Rossi's wrist and pulled it towards him. The unsub ripped away Rossi's sleeve, revealing a scar of a large third degree burn. Rossi kept his composure the entire time, keep a deep glare on Colmanshire.

"I thought you had understood that when I poured petrol," Colmanshire said in a trance like tone, " all over this arm and-"he snapped his fingers-"….well, you know the rest."

Rossi winced at the memory. _The day he damn near lit me on fire. _

He kept his eyes on Colmanshire, waiting desperately for the bell to go off. The agent still kept a calm, external composure as if nothing was wrong. The stop clock suddenly buzzed and Rossi let out a small chuckle. He pulled his arm back and smiled. "Enjoy the needle, _Michael_."

Next up was Reid. The young genius set the stop clock before sitting down across from Colmanshire. Reid folded his arms on the table, keeping his gaze on Colmanshire.

"You said that you wanted to speak with us-me?" Reid stammered, "Statistically, serial killers ask to see their victims to taunt them or out of desperation-"

"Enough with the damn statistics, Spencer!" Colmanshire exclaimed, tossing his hands in the air. "You can't get angry at me like a man, can you? All you can do is spit out statistics-"

"Why did you want to speak to us?" Reid asked in a steadier voice.

" Just a friendly last minute chat. Who knows where I'll end up next? The chair? A federal prison? Guantanamo? Maybe the streets?"

Reid quickly glanced down to the clock and saw that he had less than a minute left. " You have a higher chance of getting death penalty for kidnapping and murder than anything else. So yes- you'll most likely be executed within the next few years, depending on how fast the state and the public want it done." The agent shot out of his chair when he saw that the clock was down to thirty seconds.

"When would you have me do it?" Colmanshire curiously asked, " Or better yet- what form of punishment do I deserve, oh great Spencer Reid?"

"If I had my way- if I was in Garcia's shoes when she had that gun to your head…you'd be dead because I would have pulled the trigger."

The stop clock buzzed; Reid didn't even take a second to breathe before standing up and walking briskly out of the room.

"Jennifer Jareau, how nice it is to see you," Colmanshire said in a mocking tone. JJ restarted the clock and quietly sat down. She crossed her legs and Colmanshire said, "Nothing to say to me, I presume?"

"Nope. I'm just here to run down the clock and save lives, Michael-"

Colmanshire lunged forward as far as he could and screamed, "Don't call me that, you stupid little bitch! I thought I taught you better than that!"

JJ didn't flinch. "I must have missed that lesson."

"Really? You must have missed it during rape 101," Colmanshire sneered. His comment was more effective; JJ looked away and then down to her feet.

She replied, "You know what? It doesn't even matter because you've taught me one thing, Michael. You showed me that I can handle the worst of the worst and still come out strong. I don't care what kind of destructive mind tricks you want to try and use on my team - it won't work."

The stop clock rang, ending the conversation. JJ turned around and called over her shoulder, "You think I'm bad? Emily is going to be a blast for you."

Two minutes later, the brunette agent marched into the room and sat on the table edge.

"Here's what's going to happen, " Prentiss stated before Colmanshire could say a word, "We're going to sit here in silence-"

"And then people will die. Come on, Emily. Stop trying to be that strong woman that you aren't….I know you to be that weak, pathetic, crying little-"

The brunette profiler retorted, " And Michael…..stop trying to be that brilliant evil genius that you never were…..I know you to be weak, powerless, narcissist who can't accept the fact that this is over. So as I had told you before, we are going to sit here until the stop clock ends. Got it?"

"You little-"

Prentiss put a finger in front of her mouth. "What did I say?"

"Emil-"

"Ah, no words." Prentiss leaned back in her chair and grinned, watching the irritated Colmanshire squirm until the clock went off.

Morgan wasn't any better.

Three minutes ticked by as the African American agent stared down Colmanshire. Even with constant questions such as, "How's the leg?" Morgan didn't respond back. When the stop clock ran out, Morgan patted Colmanshire on the shoulder and told him, "Goodbye, Michael."

Hotch and Garcia stepped into the room. The analyst held onto a notepad and pen, which she dropped both items onto the table in front of Colmanshire.

"Write down everything. Now," Hotch ordered. Colmanshire pulled the notepad and examined it before saying in a mocking voice, "What about my three minutes in heaven with the both of you?"

"You threatened domestic terrorism," Hotch growled, "Your time for negotiating has ended."

"Ah, ah, ah- no one on one time, no nothing from me."

Hotch growled in annoyance. "Fine, you have thirty seconds. Go."

"Fine," Colmanshire said, "Penelope, when was the last time you were home?"

Garcia froze. _Bastard was going to get me at my own home. _"That's the big finale? Blowing me up at my apartment"

"Oh, no, my dear. I couldn't do that. There is actually one little thing left to negotiate. See I have a friend ready to set off a bomb at the National Mall tomorrow. This is the last one- scout's honor." He held a up a hand in defense.

When neither Hotch nor Garcia responded, Colmanshire continued, "Tomorrow is the anniversary of the day that I figured out that there were seven instead of six of you. If my friend doesn't see my bright, shinning face at the mall tomorrow- boom! Hundreds are dead."

"We will not release you." Hotch growled.

"Release me? Oh no, Aaron. I couldn't imagine you doing such a thing. Parading me around as a last walk of honor….now that- that I can see happening." Colmanshire grinned at Hotch, expecting an answer.

After a minute passed, Colmanshire said, "You probably aren't used to giving orders anymore, Aaron. I'll just try with Penelope. So-"

"Look at me!" Hotch yelled, slamming his hand on the table.

Colmanshire slowly clapped his hands. "Bravo. So the amnesiac leader has a voice. So what's it going to be?"


	32. Chapter 32

**National Mall- Washington D.C- 12 hours later**

"It feels good to be out in the open again," Colmanshire jeered as he was led out by Morgan and Hotch onto the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Both agents didn't show any signs of emotions as Morgan pushed Colmanshire down onto a step and Hotch unlocked the chain around Colmanshire's ankles. Reluctantly, Hotch had agreed to Colmanshire's deal.

"Oh, not so rough, Derek. I have to look good for my close-up," Colmanshire said, pretending to strike a pose. Morgan took an angry step towards Colmanshire before Hotch pulled him back. Hotch waved over a group of FBI agents and directed, "Watch him very carefully. If he blinks, shoot him in the leg."

Hotch turned to Morgan and pointed to the two black SUVs located on the grass three hundred yards away. The remaining team members were scattered throughout the area: Rossi and JJ were taking lead in watching the crowd by blending in as a married couple on vacation while Reid and Prentiss were scanning the crowd through satellite from the FBI surveillance truck west of the Reflecting Pool.

"Don't let that idiot get to you," Hotch told Morgan. The African American agent nodded, placing his hands on his hips and sighing loudly in annoyance. Hotch also said, "Let's back to the SUV and see what else Anderson has set up for this. Colmanshire said that his _friend _would be here within the next five minutes or so."

Both men broke out into a jog and quickly reached the first SUV. Inside, Garcia sat with Anderson in the back, both deep in concentration over the map of the grounds. Anderson gave both agents a slight wave before reciting the details of the plan, "The crowds have been minimized- most of the people out here are undercover agents and police from Metro PD. I have every inch of this area covered in hidden snipers and SWAT, all ready to take down the potential bomber. With that in mind, Agent Hotchner, Agent Morgan- all you two need to do is one lap around the pool and then we shut this down. Ok?"

Morgan and Hotch exchanged looks, both incredibly impressed with Anderson's work. The Unit Chief made a mental note to look more into Anderson's work right before the timer on his watch went off.

It was time for the last stand.

Morgan loaded a clip into his pistol. Hotch slipped his Kevlar vest over his blue jacket before turning to the technical analyst. Since the decision about Colmanshire had been made, Garcia had been very quiet and avoided contact with everyone. Even though he had been gone for a year, Hotch knew Garcia's "tell" when something was bothering her.

"Penelope, are you alright?" He called out gently, hoping for a calm, rational response.

"As I'll ever be," Garcia replied in a tired voice. She rolled up the blueprints and stuck them under the seat. "I'm ready-"

"Since we don't have any true idea of what's going, Garcia- I want you to stay by the vehicle-"Hotch's suggestion wasn't taken as well as he'd hoped.

"No!" Garcia protested, "I can't just hangout out here while you finally end this! No, I'm coming-"

Hotch raised his voice. "Penelope, this is an order! I don't want you to get hurt any more than you already have." He turned his back to her, but still kept a gaze on the woman through the rear view mirror. Garcia huffed angrily before looking up to the mirror. Her eyes met with Hotch for a brief second where she understood what he had actually meant.

Regardless of how much had changed over the past year, Hotchner still treated her like her old self because it was what he knew. It was also what the team knew as well; they could all handle the professional super analyst, but when it came to danger, she was still the innocent Garcia that had left behind.

The one that as a team, the one person they couldn't lose.

"Ok," Garcia replied, sadness filled in her voice. Morgan and Hotch turned back forward and watched Colmanshire give them a malicious wave. Anderson looked between the two men and asked, "You both ready?"

"Let's go," Morgan answered. He jumped out of the SUV and landed in the wet grass. Hotch was already ahead, soon leading Anderson and Morgan back towards Colmanshire.

Anderson quietly followed while zipping up his jacket. The November air was getting bitterly cold as the sun was going down. Even though all precautions had been taken, Anderson's gut was telling that this wasn't going to be as easy as it seemed to be.

He didn't like the idea of parading Colmanshire around in open space. There were so many ways that it could end badly, ranging from Colmanshire being killed before giving up his plans to a bomb going off and killing the team or civilians. The hardest part was leaving Garcia in the car. He had felt like Morgan and Hotch had shattered her hopes of personally seeing the end of the brutal, sixteen month conflict that destroyed their lives.

_Wait a minute….as much as they are her teammates, they don't know the new Garcia as well as I do. _The thought made Anderson smile. With the gun that Anderson was pretty sure that Garcia still had on her, he knew that she wouldn't stay in the car. Stealing a quick glance towards the SUV, Anderson confirmed his theory.

The vehicle was empty.

Swerving her way around groups of people, Garcia concentrated on the small tablet she held in her hand. She had snuck out of the SUV the moment the three agents had taken an eye off of her. She was the one who knew Colmanshire inside and out; whoever the potential bomber, it was most likely an old friend of Colmanshire.

Garcia pulled up pictures of all of Colmanshire's known associates, family, and any other people that he had contacted in the past. There were one hundred and seventeen photos, which Garcia had partially committed to memory.

One hundred and seventeen possible suspects.

The technical analyst turned towards the National Museum of the American Indian, where dozens took to the steps, many museum employees.

_Look for someone suspicious. Someone who isn't too interested in the excitement of seeing the FBI_. Garcia disregarded anyone looking like a tourist, families, and young adults.

_Most likely a male the same age as Colmanshire. _Garcia slowly moved towards a tall red haired male who was watching the FBI surveillance truck very carefully. It wasn't until she was closer that it became clear that the man was a reporter from _The Washington Post. _

Her phone rang loudly from her purse. Garcia placed her tablet inside the bag, expecting it to be an angry team member or Anderson.

She put the phone to her ear and answered, "I know- I know. I'm not in the SUV. You guys can't-"

The voice on the other end was unrecognizable to her. "I can see that, Miss Garcia."

"Who is this? How did you get this number?" A panic set in, causing Garcia to start to anxiously walk back towards to where the team was walking a smug Colmanshire around the Reflecting Pool.

The voice let out a deep laugh. "From your dead friend…Cooper Douglas… it's so interesting what a person can do with a dead man's phone."

Garcia continuously scanned the crowds frantically, hoping to see a man on a cellphone.

There were dozens.

"Were you the one that murdered Douglas? And now you have a bomb that's going to blow everyone up?" Garcia exclaimed.

"Exactly. When Michael Colmanshire told you that he was going to take all of us down together, he meant it." The caller immediately hung up.

_What the hell was that supposed to mean? _Garcia stopped in her tracks, her mind racing rapidly. Midway through figuring out a plan of action, Garcia heard screams come from an area east of her.

Suddenly, a dark haired male in military dress ducked under the police tape and sprinted towards Colmanshire. Agents were soon on his tail screaming for him to freeze. From the surveillance van, Reid and Prentiss came sprinting hard, both with guns drawn. Morgan and Hotch stood prepared next to Colmanshire, each aiming their firearms at the running man.

Now a little over one hundred yards away from the team, the running man held his phone out, showing pleasure and excitement on his face.

"He's a suicide bomber!" Garcia yelled at the top of her lungs. In her mind, the man didn't seem like the type to embrace a serial killer in the middle of a national park.

"FBI! Stop! We will shoot! Final warning!" Someone yelled from behind Garcia. It snapped her out of her momentary daze, allowing her to realize that she had drawn the handgun Anderson had given her. Garcia looked up just in time to see the man, with eyes closed, put his finger towards the send button.

That's when Garcia made a move that she didn't know that she could possibly do.

With the safety off and the gun loaded, Garcia aimed at the man and fired.


	33. Chapter 33

Firing a gun was much different than Garcia had expected.

Everything seemed to slow down from the moment she pulled the trigger. The sound was much, much louder; it made Garcia yelp in surprise.

The recoil had also surprised her- Garcia's thumb was cut because she had put her thumb behind the slide of the gun. She dropped the gun and looked up to see the bomber hit the ground. The man had taken Garcia's bullet through his thigh, causing him to land on his shoulder onto the wet, muddy grass. The bomber quickly placed his hand towards his jacket. At that moment, ten FBI agents, including Rossi and JJ ran to the unsub to arrest him.

During the commotion, Morgan had pushed Colmanshire to the ground and raised his weapon towards the bomber. The unsub had stayed down on the ground, watching both Hotch and Morgan switch their focus from him to the wounded bomber. Colmanshire placed his hands together and readied himself.

"He's down," Anderson yelled back towards Garcia. She ran her hands through her hair, feeling her guard drop for seconds before a another commotion broke out. In seconds, Garcia watched Morgan fall forward as Colmanshire kicked him in the back of the knees. The unsub wrapped his arms around Morgan's neck and began to squeeze.

"Stand down, Colmanshire!" Hotch yelled. He had his gun trained directly on Colmanshire. The unsub tightened his hold on Morgan and with his other hand, pulled Morgan's weapon closer to him.

Rossi and JJ had joined Hotch's side. "We will shoot!" both agents yelled.

Morgan started gasping hard for air as Colmanshire squeezed harder. Colmmanshire grinned wide and said, "None of you can do it…..none of you have the strength to do it!"

Hotch gripped his gun tighter, trying with every ounce of strength in him to pull the weapon. Like his fellow teammates, he just couldn't do it.

Colmanshire smiled triumphantly._ I've won; _Colmanshire thought excitedly, _I've finally beaten them- _was the last thing that ever crossed the man's mind.

Across the field, Garcia had frantically picked up the gun at the sight of Morgan being choked. Her mind went blank as she fired another shot at Colmanshire, killing him. Morgan rolled away from Colmanshire, rubbing his own neck and gasping for air. Anderson kneeled next to the unsub and checked for a pulse. A wave of relief washed over him when he felt no pulse.

Reid and Prentiss were now near the Reflecting Pool, both hugging each other in relief. JJ pulled out her cellphone to call Will and Rossi shook Anderson's hand in thanks. Nearby law enforcement began to scatter across the field, many breathing sighs of relief and happiness. Everyone was displaying some form of emotion except for Garcia.

To Garcia, it felt like time had stopped.

The monster that had destroyed her life for sixteen months was lying dead by her hand.

The team and their loved ones were all safe.

And Penelope Garcia had done something that she had hoped to never do in her life- kill another human being.

_I've just killed someone._

The technical analysthad seen how having to take a life had affected every member of her team, including Anderson. For many others, like old member Jason Gideon, the guilt had eaten them down to their cores. Because of this, Garcia had tried to hold onto her innocence for as long as she could.

Garcia could barely take a breath. _I've….I've really just killed someone._

"Baby girl?"

Morgan was now standing by her side, placing a comforting arm around her shoulders. Shaken, she pushed it off and slowly took a few steps away from him. Hotch watched Garcia cautiously, hoping for her to act calmly.

Garcia only continued to step away from them, the same words repeating over and over in her head-_I've just killed someone. _

"I killed him," Garcia whimpered. Without saying another word, Garcia turned on her heels and ran.

An hour had passed before the team and Anderson found Garcia. Hotch and Morgan had searched the outlying areas of the Lincoln Memorial before they had found her sitting next to a large bush. With mascara stained cheeks, the woman had been sitting with her hands around her knees and her head down. An additional ten minutes passed before Garcia was finally coaxed into returning to the SUV.

"Wait."

The analyst froze at the sight of Colmanshire being loaded up for the medical examiner's truck. She walked slowly over to the gurney and pulled the zipper open, receiving no protest from any of the medical examiner's assistants. Garcia pulled the top of the bag open and found her face-to-face with Colmanshire. No words were said as she stared into his empty, hallow eyes.

"He's gone," Anderson whispered in her ear. He pulled her back towards the SUV after placing a jacket over her shoulders. "I'm going to take you home, alright?"

Garcia faintly nodded, her eyes still focused on the spot where she had shot Colmanshire. Everything around her continued to be a blur, including Anderson arguing with the team about who would stay with Garcia for the night to the slow walk up her apartment stairs an hour later. The analyst didn't snap back into reality until Anderson helped her through the door of her apartment.

"No," Garcia whispered, "I don't want to stay here."

"What do you mean?" Anderson asked. He knew that she had crashed mentally.

"I'm done. I don't want to- I can't stay here." Garcia sat down in a heap at the door. "I'm just so tired and it doesn't feel right to be here anymore. Nothing feels right."

"That's normal-"

"Don't tell me that this is normal!" Garcia yelled, "God, I am so tired of all of this! My team is home and that bastard is dead- that bastard that I killed…." She started sobbing, "What am I supposed to do next?"

"What everyone does when they experience trauma," Anderson said. He sat down next to her and placed an arm on her waist, "You move on. You start over and create a new life. I mean- with the team recertifying-"

"What?"

"You didn't know?"

Garcia started to pull herself up, exclaiming, "They want to go back to work already? How could they do that? We just killed Colmanshire like thirty seconds ago and-"

"Hey, look at me. Worry about that tomorrow. That's a promise, ok?"

"Alright," Garcia lied. Regardless of what her teammates would say in the morning, Garcia knew that none of them were ready to go back to normal, everyday life.


	34. Chapter 34

It was raining when Garcia woke up the next morning.

She was lying on a bed in Anderson's spare room. The woman was dead tired, especially since she hadn't slept at all that previous night. Anderson had taken her to his apartment after her breakdown where they quietly ate dinner and cleaned themselves up. Anderson had gone to bed early, leaving Garcia to spend the night tossing and turning. She just couldn't get Colmanshire's dead body out of her head.

_Knock. Knock. _The door quietly opened and Anderson quietly entered. "Penelope?" He called out, "Are you awake?"

"Mmhmm," Garcia answered. Anderson crawled onto the bed and laid down right next to her, his warm eyes looking directly into hers. He expected some kind of reaction from her, some kind of response to a friend climbing into bed with her, but received nothing.

_I have to get her talking, _he thought. Anderson took a nervous breath in and then said, "Douglas' funeral is today."

Silence.

_Not the best conversation starter. _Anderson looked over to the clock before trying again. " I-uh- asked your teammates to have them meet us at the office today. I didn't tell them why, but they all agreed to come. You guys can chat about the recertification and then go to the funeral afterwards."

More silence.

He reached out and touched Garcia's hand, which caused her to flinch. As Anderson pulled his hand back, Garcia felt a tear go down her cheek. She quickly wiped it and whispered, "When was your first kill?"

"Ahhhh…" Anderson rolled onto his back and focused on the ceiling fan whirling quietly above their heads. " It was 1998 and I was a cop in Charlotte, fresh out of the academy. I was working a beat in a rough neighborhood when I came across a junkie trying to rob a young woman. After I identified myself, the man suddenly came charging at me with a knife. I had to take the shot."

"How did you get over it?"

The sad realization that every law enforcement member felt hit him slowly. "I didn't. I took me ten minutes to work up the courage to call it in. I'll never forget the look in the man's eyes- the hallow, empty eyes . Penelope, I don't have a right answer to how you'll you get over this. All I can tell you is that your teammates and I will be supporting you the whole way."

Garcia suddenly sat forward, which surprised Anderson. The analyst ran a hand through her messy hair before muttering, " I'm a mess."

Anderson let out a chuckle in relief. He put his hands behind his head and said, " No you don't."

"Liar…" Garcia turned to her friend and stated, "They can't- my team can't recertify."

"Then tell them."

**FBI building- BAU- 1 hour later**

Garcia stepped off the elevator and onto the floor of the BAU. With Colmanshire dead and six of FBI agents returned to Bureau alive, many agents were at a FBI celebration banquet on the bottom floor. In Garcia's opinion, they had every right to celebrate- a sick, delusional monster was dead and off the streets.

She started walking towards the main conference room where the team was waiting. A part of her felt out of place walking around without the Colmanshire case being her main focus. The last sixteen months had always been the same- step off the elevator with a scalding cup of coffee, ignore the empathetic stares from other Bureau members, and walk past the Wall of Fallen Agents.

_Wait. _Garcia stopped at the sight of the memorial. At some point between the incident in Danville and today, someone had removed each team members' photos from the wall. Like everything else now, the wall didn't seem right to her anymore. For sixteen months, she had walked past the wall knowing that the six photos of her teammates were always be there.

"That's what I told her!"

"Huh?" Garcia mumbled at the sound of Reid's voice from the bullpen. His voice was chipper and full of laughter. Garcia pulled herself from the wall and followed Reid's voice into the bullpen where she found the young genius and the other team members sitting around JJ and Reid's old desk.

"Hey guys," Garcia called out softly. Morgan cheerfully greeted, "Morning, Princess," with a kiss on the cheek. He sat down next to Hotch just as Garcia stammered loudly, "You can't recertify right now."

The team's reaction was just as she had expected. Hotch walked over to Garcia and asked in a steady voice, "Excuse me?"

"You all just came from a massive life threatening trauma and…you just can't."

"Penelope," Morgan said, "We're ok. Baby girl, we executed two raids, one being not too long after we were rescued!"

" I know and I don't care," Garcia whimpered. Her entire body began to tremble.

"It's not like we'll be going straight into the field," Rossi stated, "They'll have us doing only office work at first."

"No, you can't-"

"Penelope." The Unit Chief was now standing next to her. With a comforting hand on Garcia's shoulder, Hotch asked, " You went through just as much hell as we just did. I have to ask- is this about us or about you being not ready?"

Garcia's body stopped trembling. The man was right in some sense- she wasn't ready. Penelope Garcia wasn't ready to go back to work, go back to her apartment- basically, go back to normal everyday life.

Tears began to slowly roll down her cheeks as she said, " You're right- I'm not ready. I know it makes me seem selfish that I don't want you guys to recertify, but I frankly don't care. I want some time where I don't have to worry about you guys. _One day. _Just one day….where I don't feel like I'm going to die from everything that's on my shoulders. One day- one day where I close my eyes and I don't dream of me actually burying all of you for real or Colmanshire coming back even though he's dead. I just-"

The woman stopped and caught her breath. The room was silent.

"I'm just going to go," Garcia stammered. She pushed the door open and stepped out into the barely lit hallway. There, she placed her hands on her knees and started to sob quietly. A minute passed before Garcia could compose herself. With a heavy heart, Garcia trudged towards the elevator to head towards the funeral alone.

**Hayfields Cemetery- Alexandria, Virginia**

"Ready! "

Garcia stared straight at the squad of military personal that stood next to the casket that held Cooper Douglas. The funeral had proceeded smoothly, despite the downpour of rain onto the funeral patrons. Garcia had given a long speech for Douglas on a podium in front of many of Douglas' friends and family. Anderson staying by her side throughout the speech had been comforting, but the absence of her teammates made giving her speech harder. Now she stood in front of a squad that was abour to give Douglas a 3 volley salute.

"Aim!"

Garcia suddenly felt a warm hand slip into hers. She had expected it to be Anderson, but was happy to see Morgan holding her hand. Soon, Hotch and the others were all standing next to her. Like Garcia, they owed everything to Cooper Douglas.

"Fire!"

At the first shot, Garcia flashed back to July 27, 2010- the moment her world shattered.

"_Miss Garcia," the Section Chief said, " I received a call from Bristol police that the team was working with around two hours ago. "_

"_What's wrong?"_

"_They arrived to the Colemanshire residence and found the SUVs torn apart and no sign of the team nor Colemanshire. They searched the woods near the home for a few hours and found no trace of them. As of right now, your team is MIA."_

"Ready!"

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

The second shot brought up a second memory- the moment there was a hope of her team's survival.

_Strauss turned back to the door and called, " Agent Douglas!"_

_He entered quickly and put his hand behind his back._

_"You will take Miss Garcia as an aide or if anyone asks, a probationary agent with you, to Manchester. Wheels up in an 1 hour. Good luck." Strauss walked out of the office, which allowed Agent Douglas to say, " Ready?"_

_"Yes, actually one moment." Garcia briskly walked back to the Wall of Fallen Agents. Excitedly, she whispered at the sight of the 6 photos of her team mates, " I will bring you guys home. I promise."_

"Ready!"

"Aim!"

"Fire!"

The last shot brought up the memory of her pulling the trigger and killing Colmanshire.

TAPS began to play, which pulled Garcia back to reality. As the casket was lowered into the ground, Garcia said to Hotch, "I wasn't sure if you guys were going to come."

"This man saved our lives," Rossi replied, We owe him this."

Hotch gave her hand a squeeze. " We needed to be here. And don't worry about the recertification. We won't do anything until _all of us _are ready. Promise."

And with that being said, Garcia smiled, realizing that all the pain and misery of the last sixteen months was over.

**A/N: There is one more chapter. **


	35. Chapter 35

**6 Months Later**

It was the team's first day back.

Actually, it was the team's first case together as one solid unit.

Garcia stood on the ramp that separated the conference room from Rossi's and Hotch's office. It was grey skies outside, marking her nerves of such an important day. A 6:30am call time for the A team had left Garcia free to think in an empty bullpen. The case was a grisly one- a serial killer with carnivorous tendencies was ravaging the Bakersfield area. The rest of the team was scattered throughout the building; from her knowledge, Prentiss and JJ were downstairs getting new ID badges and Reid, Rossi, and Morgan were getting coffee from the cafeteria.

The past six months had flown by and had been filled with struggles, but mostly recovery.

During the seven week period after Colmanshire's death, a media storm erupted and every news corporation wanted an interview with the FBI's "Lucky Seven". The nickname had come from a local news channel and had stuck, much to everyone's distaste. Once the media storm had died down, each person went through one of the hardest six months of their lives, especially Hotch, Morgan, and Prentiss.

SSA Aaron Hotchner was the last to return to the team and the most affected by the kidnapping.

During the media storm, Hotch's injuries flared up, landing him in the hospital for weeks. During the same period, the man also suffered through deep nightmares of returning memories of the kidnapping. To Hotch, it was a small relief that he was beginning to remember what had taken place, but in the end, it was still hard to bear. And if that weren't enough, not all of his memories returned. Once the Unit Chief pushed through his injuries and nightmares, he passed both the physical and psychological exams just in time to return a week before today.

SSA Derek Morgan had the second roughest time out of all the agents.

Morgan's leg injury flared up again, landing him back in a wheelchair three weeks after Colmanshire's death. His irritation with the setback led to outbursts against his friends and families, all who stuck by his side regardless. After four months, things began to turn around and Morgan was wheelchair free. When recertifying five months after the incident, the second in command agent failed his psych evaluation. A reattempt three weeks later put Morgan on desk duty until today.

Emily Prentiss almost did not return to the Bureau.

The psychological scars from the rape had dug in and destroyed her, making the usually strong woman fragile. A month after the incident, Prentiss went into therapy unable to choose whether she would return to a world that almost killed her. An interview with Hanley Parker, an associate of Colmanshire's, reminded her that not returning would be a win for Colmanshire. Prentiss barely passed her psych evaluation and was put on desk duty 5 ½ months after Colmanshire's death.

For the remaining three agents, the six month period wasn't as bad, but still filled with struggle.

Jennifer Jareau spent the first half of the six months overseas reconnecting with Will and Henry. She also took the time to take a break from the chaos that surrounded the team back in Quantico. While away, JJ married Will and took a tour of Europe before returning to Washington D.C. From there, JJ had intensive therapy to push past the rape and the torture she endured. Four months after Colmanshire's death, JJ passed both exams and was the second member to recertify on the team.

The eldest agent, David Rossi, returned first, passing his psychological and physical exams ten weeks after Colmanshire's death. Before recertifying, Rossi had spent some time alone on an old friend's farm in North Carolina. It was peaceful and a time to get back to things he had once loved doing- writing and unknown to much of the team, reading. When Rossi returned home, he volunteered for desk duty because he didn't feel right going into the field without the rest of his teammates.

The young genius followed in the footsteps of JJ and spent two months with his mother in Las Vegas. Spencer Reid also spent most of his time reading as much as he could. Oddly, reading ten books a day didn't feel as appealing as it had before the kidnapping. To make up for the loss of interest, Reid returned and recertified third to spend the remainder of the six month period helping other teams in the BAU.

And for Garcia, the six month period was a time for readjustment to a new life. One of the first things that she did was throw out her old clothes and things from her apartment. However, she took Anderson's advice and kept a few knick knacks of the past like her dog bobble head to serve as a reminder of life before the kidnapping. Like her teammates, she went through therapy, especially due to many nightmare filled nights that left her gasping for air. . During the day, Garcia returned to her analyst position and aided the other teams in the Bureau. The job felt foreign and unappealing to her after a few weeks, as she had expected.

"Penelope?"

Garcia looked to her left to see Hotch standing next to her with a small brown box in his hands. Ignoring her curiosity, Garcia replied, "Good morning, Aaron."

"How are you?" Hotch asked.

Garcia shrugged her shoulders, keeping her gaze on the window. "I'm alright. I'm so nervous for you guys- first case where everyone is cleared for field duty."

"All thanks to you." Hotch extended the box to Garcia. "Before we get started on the case, I want you to have this on behalf of the team."

Garcia nervously took and opened the box, finding a Glock 22 inside with a pink grip. She picked it up and admired it before looking to Hotch, mouth agape.

"We all came to the conclusion that you should have it for protection," Hotch explained, "I know that you're still uneasy-"

"I love it." Garcia had spent many hours on the FBI shooting range, supporting her teammates during their practices for recertification. The repeated trips and her newly found bravery made Garcia no longer afraid or even antsy of guns. "Thank you."

"No, thank you. Let's get to work," Hotch said. With a little pep in her step, she followed Hotch into the conference room. Inside, they found Strauss and the team sitting at the conference table.

"Everyone please sit," Strauss ordered. She placed case files in front of each agent. "First, I'd like to give a warm welcome to you all for returning back to the Bureau. I know that it's been a hard two years for us all." Seeing as this is your first case out in the field, I'm here to inform of you the new changes for this team. The Bakersfield police have been alerted that this is the A team's first case in over two years. I assured them that you all are perfectly competent in completing your jobs, but they'll probably be some media attention while you are there. With that in mind, Agent Anderson will be joining you all on cases to help pull away from the media storms. He will also do the liaison duties and coordinate with your team's newest technical analyst, Lisa Hartsfield."

Garcia's eyes widened in confusion. "Lisa Hartsfield?" she stammered, "With all due respect, ma am, what about me?"

"You will be traveling with us on every case as a consult," Hotch answered for Strauss.

Garcia covered her mouth and looked down around the table. _That's why Hotch gave me a gun!_

Morgan placed a hand on her back. "You didn't think Hotch was going to let all your new profiling skills go to waste, did you?"

"Wouldn't- what about Anderson? He has more experience than I do?" Garcia stammered.

"He insisted that we give it to you," Rossi said with a grin, "Congrats, Penelope."

"Congratulations, Miss Garcia," Strauss said. She added, "Good luck to you all," before leaving the room.

Hotch stood up and immediately went into Unit Chief mode.

"Let's focus on the case. We need to fly out immediately because of the severity of the case. Wheels up in 30." The Unit Chief smiled at the end of his statement- in all honestly; he never thought that he would be able to say _wheels up_ again.

Garcia rose from her chair and followed JJ and Morgan out of the room. The two agents in front of her were laughing and talking as if everything was back to normal, even though everyone knew that it was not. They were now seven strong, brave survivors of one of the hardest years of their lives.

Things would always be different.

In all honesty, the memories of their old lives had been destroyed…shattered, essentially,

Allowing Penelope, Spencer, Aaron, Derek, Emily, JJ, and David the ability to be stronger and create beautiful, brand new ones.

"_What we call the beginning is often the end. And to make an end is to make a beginning. The end is where we start from."- T.S. Eliot _

**-The End**

**A/N: Thanks for reading!**


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